Lakers closed their road trip on a high.
Tonight in Charlotte, your Los Angeles Lakers managed to avenge their unfortunate 134-130 December 23rd home defeat to the Hornets by stealing a victory on the road, 121-115, behind a 43-point, 11-rebound double-double from LA superstar LeBron James. LBJ chipped in six assists to boot.
Anthony Davis’s replacement at center in LA’s starting lineup, Thomas Bryant scored 18 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the floor and pulled out 15 boards.
Though Charlotte mounted a valiant comeback attempt in the fourth quarter, outscoring LA 39-27, it ultimately (thankfully) proved to be too little, too late.
Los Angeles started out strong with a dominant first half of basketball.
LA has been known in the recent past to let its foot off the gas too much in the third period, but that certainly was not the case tonight.
LA kept pace with the Hornets in the period, even outscoring them slightly, 34-31, to take a commanding 94-76 advantage into the final frame.
Charlotte went on a disconcerting 14-3 run to kick off the fourth quarter, but some critical shotmaking from Dennis Schroder helped stave off the Hornets rally late:
LeBron has now scored 30 or more points in 10 of his last 11 games. The victory has moved the Lakers’ record up to 16-21 on the season thus far.