Lakers bench erupts for a season-high 71 points in big win over the Warriors.
After coming off a down to the wire 4th quarter win on Friday vs the Pacers the Lakers continued that momentum into tonight’s game with a huge win over the Golden State Warriors, beating them 128–97 and moving their record to 26–13. The Lakers move on to a two-game win streak as they look fresh as ever after coming off a much-needed rest from the All-Star break. With tonight’s big win over the Warriors, the Lakers remain in third place in the Western Conference behind the 26–12 Phoenix Suns and 28–10 Utah Jazz.
The Lakers had arguably their best offensive game of the season with multiple season-high performances in tonight’s victory. The Lakers had season-highs 71 bench points and 36 assists. One huge noticeable stat the Lakers were able to have was shooting 40% from the three-point arc as they have struggled shooting from the perimeter as of late. The Lakers shot 11–27 (41%) from the three and finished a season-high percentage from the field 49–78 (63%).
With the Lakers having a huge performance as a team tonight it brought season-highs for multiple players on the team and one of those players is the MVP of the night Montrezl Harrell.
After Friday’s victory over the Pacers LeBron James spoke about the impact Montrezl Harrell has had for this Lakers team saying “He’s getting better and better every single game and we’re going to continue to need his energy and effort on both ends of the floor” and tonight he showed how impactful he is for this Lakers team. Harrell finished with a season-high 27 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals on 11–14 (78%) shooting from the field. Montrezl Harrell has been one of the most consistent players on this roster as he continues to bring energy and intensity for this Lakers bench night in and night out.
Montrezl Harrell in the past 3 games:
Vs. GSW: 27 PTS
Vs. IND: 17 PTS
Vs. SAC: 26 PTS
In the past 3 games, Montrezl Harrell has scored 70 total points for this team and has brought a much-needed presence with the absence of Marc Gasol due to the COVID Protocol. Lakers head coach Frank Vogel on what Montrezl Harrell has given the Lakers lately:
“He’s been invaluable. He’s been a big part of our success this season, especially with AD and Marc being out, we’ve had to rely on him.”
Even with the Lakers bench erupting for 71 points tonight LeBron James had one of his best showing of the season. LeBron James notched his 4th triple-double of the season in tonight’s win over the Warriors. In 30 minutes, James had 22 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds with an impressive plus/minus of 33. LeBron had some great percentages from the field in tonight’s performance shooting 2–4 from the three and 8–13 total from the field. James spoke about the huge 71 point performance from the bench tonight saying:
“High energy and it resulted in some very good plays for our ball club. Trez from the start was aggressive, finishing at the rim. Kuz’s energy has been like this all year so we expect that from him. Then THT came in and was very poised, getting 10 assists and also attacking the rim that he’s done all year. They were great tonight.”
After going 4–15 from the three-point arc in the previous 6 games, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had a much-needed bounce-back performance in tonight’s win over the Warriors. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope finished with 14 points on 3–4 (75%) shooting from the perimeter and 5–8 (62%) from the field. One thing that needs to be talked about tonight is KCP’s performance. If the Lakers can get performances like tonight from him almost every night, it’s going to be extremely hard to stop this Lakers team.
The Lakers bench finishing with a season-high 71 points in tonight’s win was due to the energy this bench can easily bring almost every night.
The 20-year-old Talen Horton-Tucker had a career night in tonight’s huge bench surge. Horton-Tucker had a career-high 18 points and 10 assists on the night, notching the first double-double of his young career. He added 4 rebounds to his double-double and shot 7–10 from the field and 4–5 from the foul line.
With the absence of Anthony Davis, this Lakers team has had great intensity from their bench and one of those players is Kyle Kuzma. Kuzma was another Laker to have a great showing in tonight’s win against Golden State. In 28 minutes Kuzma had 17 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals while finishing 7–11 from the field and 3–5 from the 3 point arc.
The Lakers are scheduled to play five games in the next seven days starting tonight. During that span, the Lakers will have two back-to-backs.
3/15 vs GSW
3/16 vs MIN
3/18 vs CHA
3/20 vs ATL
3/21 vs PHX
The Lakers will now have their second game of a back-to-back tomorrow against the 9-30 Minnesota Timberwolves and hope to continue their momentum and move their win streak to three games.