Lakers fall to the Wizards, dropping their 4th game in the last five.
After coming off a much-needed win over the Orlando Magic Monday, the Lakers answered back with a not-so-great effort this afternoon, falling to the Washington Wizards 116–107. With tonight’s loss, the Lakers record moves to 36–26 dropping four of their last five games. The Lakers still remain in 5th place in the Western Conference as the Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trailblazers are a couple of games behind them, lingering with a possibility of pushing them back in the standing.
Tonight’s Lakers loss mostly came from the all-star duo Russell Westbrook and Bradley Beal, arguably the best backcourt in the entire association. The NBA scoring leader Bradley Beal led all Wizards in scoring tonight finishing with 27 points on 3 of 5 (60%) shooting from the perimeter and 11 for 18 (61.1%) from the field. Russell Westbrook keeps climbing and climbing towards Oscar Robertson (Oscar-181 triple-doubles) in all-time triple-doubles (Westbrook-176 triple-doubles) as he finished with another one in tonight’s win for Washington. In 40 minutes, Westbrook finished with 18 points, 18 rebounds, and 14 assists on 7 of 16 (43.7%) shooting from the field.
Despite tonight’s loss, Anthony Davis looked more and more like his old self, shaking off the rust and getting his legs back in his 4th game back from a two-month absence. Davis finished with a Lakers high 26 points on 10 of 20 (50%) shooting from the field and 2 for 5 (40%) from the three-point arc. Davis also added 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks in his 31 minutes of action tonight. Frank Vogel spoke on reintegrating Anthony Davis and eventually LeBron James for the final stretch of the regular season.
“We just have to look forward, put this trip behind us, and continue to work on what we’re doing.”
Andre Drummond finished with another double-double in tonight’s Lakers matchup, giving him his 5th double-double as a Laker. In 20 minutes of action, Drummond was second on the Lakers in scoring with 17 points and added 11 rebounds on 8 of 12 (66.6%) shooting from the field. Tonight’s 11 rebounds are the 8th game as a Laker that Drummond finished in double digits in rebounds in 11 games in a Lakers uniform. Frank Vogel spoke on the duo of Andre Drummond and Anthony Davis saying:
“AD playing with another 5-man, like he did all year last year, was one of our best lineups. And I do think that it will work. I don’t know what the overall was tonight, but it’s definitely a combination we believe in.”
The Lakers shot their 2nd worst of the season going 13 for 21 (61.9%) in tonight’s loss to the Wizards. The Lakers failed to shoot over 30% from the three-point arc going 10 for 34 (29.4%) from the perimeter with the Wizards shooting 33% (6 of 18). The Lakers were able to get some spark from the bench tonight with two players finishing in double figures in the benches’ 36 point outing.
Ben McLemore has been one of the Lakers’ most consistent three-point shooters as of late, but tonight he struggled to try to find a rhythm staying consistent going 5 of 16 overall from the field. In 22 minutes of playing time, McLemore led all bench players in scoring finishing with 16 points on 4 of 12 (33%) shooting from the perimeter.
Montrezl Harrell finished second on the Lakers bench in scoring with 12 points on a perfect 5 for 5 from the field goal. Harrell also added 3 rebounds, 2 assists. 1 block and 1 steal in his 17 minutes of action.
The Lakers have 10 games left on the schedule for the regular season before the NBA playoffs begin. The schedule looks fair for the Lakers to possibly avoid the play-in tournament of the 7th and 8th seed that is set to face off against the 9th and 10th teams in the West standings.
Final 10 games for the Lakers:
Vs. Kings (4/30)
Vs. Raptors (5/2)
Vs. Nuggets (5/3)
@. Clippers (5/6)
@. Blazers (5/7)
Vs. Suns (5/9)
Vs. Knicks (5/11)
Vs. Rockets (5/12)
@. Pacers (5/15)
@. Pelicans (5/16)
The Lakers will now travel back home for their match third matchup this season against the Sacramento Kings. Look for the Lakers to come out with a lot of energy as they will fight back to get in the win column to get back on track for the playoffs.