LeBron James rallies Los Angeles Lakers to their fourth straight home victory. Lakers lose Brandon Ingram to an ankle injury in a victory over the San Antonio Spurs. He only played five minutes and scored five points. Due to the injury, Los Angeles expanded James’ minutes and changed their game plan. They had to adapt to the new game plan which allowed James to increase his minutes on the court.
LeBron James Rallies Behind Los Angeles Lakers
James scored 42 points, six assists, and five rebounds. James was one of two players to play 40 minutes. Lonzo Ball was the other who also had an excellent game. Ball posted 14 points and nine assists. Furthermore, Ball had an energy sparking dunk that ignited the crowd and the team.
Zo with the right!!#LakeShow (📺: @SpectrumSN & ESPN) pic.twitter.com/FhvXccVB0o
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 6, 2018
Ball showed his vertical leap with this dunk. Additionally, he was 50% from beyond the arc. Ball showed off all of his skill set in the forty minutes he played. While on the court he was a plus eighteen points. He made creative passes that lead to points for his team.
Early Foul Trouble By the Spurs
The Lakers started the game strong having a five-point lead at halftime. The third quarter is when the Spurs came out strong firing on all cylinders. Demar DeRozan, Rudy Gay, and LaMarcus Aldridge each scored 20 plus points.
DeRozan and Gay had 30 plus points. Gay points allowed the Spurs to take a short lead in the third quarter. Even so, making all of their free throws helped them as well to sustain the lead. Early foul trouble for the San Antonio Spurs allowed the Lakers to stay in the game and mount a comeback.
The irony in it all is that the Spurs made all their free throws. Then in the fourth quarter is when LeBron James rallied the Lakers to the victory scoring 14 points in the final minutes. James made crucial three-pointers from way beyond the arc.
Lakers Depth and Chemistry Shown in Victory
Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were the other two players who scored in double figures. L.A. attempted and made fewer field goals than their opponent and still won. Furthermore, the reason behind that is because they attempted and made more three-pointers than the Spurs. They went 14-39 from beyond the arc for 35.9%. From the field they went 42-88 for 47.7%; lastly, from the charity stripe, they went 23-33 for 69.7%.
Even more, what assisted the Lakers in winning is that they posted 21 assists. These assists lead to points off fast breaks, three-pointers from moving the ball around, and acrobatic layups and dunks by the Lakers. The Lakers turned the ball over yes. They allowed San Antonio to stay in the game as they were out-rebounded 49-42.
Losing Ingram to an injury didn’t stop the Lakers from focusing on the task at hand; winning this game. This game allowed the Lakers to display their depth and their chemistry of the whole team.
As a team, an entire unit their game flow is translating from practice to the game courts. After this loss, it is evident that their chemistry is improving and that they have depth. When one player goes down the next player enters the game and completes the task at hand.
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