The Los Angeles Lakers conceded their third bankruptcy in the fifth game of their East Coast trip. In the 114:117 against the Hornets, LA without LeBron James and Anthony Davis experiences a terrible start before Russell Westbrook single-handedly brings his colors back. In the end, the Hornets tremble to victory.
Charlotte Hornets (28-22) – Los Angeles Lakers (24-26) 117:114 (BOXSCORE)
LeBron James (knee) was on the bench in civilian clothes for the second straight season, while Anthony Davis also sat out after injuring his wrist in a dunk against the Sixers the day before. In his first game without his Superstar colleagues, Russell Westbrook jumped into the breach with 35 points (12/23 FG, 3/7 trebles), 5 assists and 4 rebounds with just one turnover.
However, the 33-year-old still had huge problems in the first half, until the break he only had 5 points on the scoreboard. With his explosion after the break that fueled the Lakers comeback from 20 points behind, he scored the most points in a half (30) since Kobe Bryant’s last game in 2016 (38).
Westbrook only failed with his potential game winner in the final seconds, so that LA had to leave the floor as a loser again. In addition to Russ, Carmelo Anthony (19, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, +20) and Austin Reaves (16) had previously performed well.
On the home side, the quartet featured Miles Bridges (26, 8 rebounds and 6 assists), Ish Smith (22, 10/12 FG) and LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier (20 points each). Mason Plumlee had 8 points and 17 rebounds, while PJ Washington added 12 points.
Russell Westbrook leads Lakers’ monster comeback
Without LeBron and AD, the Lakers didn’t really do much at first. The offensive engine didn’t get going at all (3/15 FG at the start), defensively LA found no means against Rozier or Bridges, who moved Happy and spectacular dunked through the zone. Charlotte quickly pulled away with 15 points, the Lakers threatened a debacle.
The bench around Melo or Kent Bazemore (13) injected some life into the Lakers offense, the guests from Hollywood crawled back in – only to promptly concede a 10-0 run by the Hornets. By the half-time break, Charlotte was ahead again (65:49). There was no sign of Westbrook up to this point, rather he was standing at a plus/minus of -27 at the break, so he was loud ESPN Stats & Info set his personal negative record for one half.
Westbrook woke up after the change of sides. After Charlotte had increased the lead to 20 points, the Lakers responded with several threes from Anthony and Wayne Ellington (9) and Westbrook attacked with good drives. He scored most of his 14 points in the third period in the zone. At the end of a 20:5 run, the game was even balanced again.
At the beginning of the final section, however, the Hornets had the upper hand thanks to Smith and Rozier, and LA now had significantly more problems scoring again. Several buckets from the strong Reaves kept things exciting until crunch time. Then Westbrook single-handedly kept the Lakers in the game, including two pull-up threes. 11 consecutive Lakers points went to the point guard, who reduced to -3 with a minute left. Hornets owner Michael Jordan had enough.
Then it got wild: Melo blocked a drive from Rozier, on the other side Bridges retaliated with a rejection against Westbrook. However, the offensive rebound ended up with Stanley Johsnon, who made it 114:115. Ball then missed one of his two free throws, giving LA one last chance with 9 seconds left. Westbrook tried the pullup three-pointer again, this time without success. Charlotte brought the victory off the line in dry cloths.
