BEVERLY HILLS, March 19, (THEWILL) – For the second consecutive year, Western Conference NBA Lakers’ LeBron James has done one over a highly-touted rookie that the bookies thought was going to run over him. Last year, it was Zion Williamson that got the best that James had to offer. On Thursday, it was this season’s hot newcomer LaMelo Ball, when the Charlotte Hornets played the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time.
The Lakers’ King James was in the game for 36:30 minutes on Thursday, but he scored 37 points on an efficient 14-22 shooting from the field and tallied 8 rebounds, 6 assists, a block and a steal to give the result to the Lakers. The 36-year-old had had stat lines like that on several occasions this season, but he took it several notches up on Thursday as the Lakers triumphed 116-105.
Although they made it tougher for themselves when they let Ball’s Hornets creep back into the game in the third quarter, conceding a lead they had of as much as 18 points. They were made to rally as the game progressed and get through to the end with their lead to finish off the tie on on winning side with James.
The result made it another solid outing for a team still missing two starters in power forward Anthony Davis and centre Marc Gasol. Markieff Morris and Damian Jones have been starting at the 4 and 5 positions respectively doing impressive jobs in their stead. The implication is the return of the pair would give the Lakers extra gears to push them even higher upon their return.
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That will be some solid boost as the Lakers are in the midst of a four-game winning streak, which has seen them move past the Phoenix Suns, who lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday, to re-take the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Only 1.5 game points separate them from the No. 1 seed Utah Jazz, who lost to the Washington Wizards on Thursday.
This Saturday, James and his Lakers teammates will look to build on this winning momentum when they host the Atlanta Hawks at Staples Center.
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