Lakers stop a late-game surge vs the Hornets to win their 4th straight game.
The Lakers battled the young and exciting Charlotte Hornets this afternoon, stopping a late-game comeback surge behind a huge 37 point performance from LeBron James, beating the Hornets 116–105. With tonight’s victory over the Charlotte Hornets, the Lakers move their season record to 28–13 and move into second place in the Western Conference 1.5 games behind the 29–11 Utah Jazz. After starting 9–7 at home in the first 16 games of the season, the Lakers are 5–1 in the last 6 home games, putting the season label of playing horribly at home to bed.
The Charlotte Hornets had a solid performance from their 3rd overall pick rookie of the year candidate LaMelo Ball tonight. The LA native finished with 26 points, 7 assists, and 5 rebounds on 10–18 (55%) shooting from the field goal. Despite having a game-high 6 turnovers, LaMelo looked like a player who has been in the association for some time. Playing overseas in Australia polished his game and prepared him for the NBA as it looks he is going to be in this league for a long time.
Despite shooting 33% from the three-point arc, the Lakers were able to come out with a victory by going 15–20 (75%) from the free-throw line and grabbing 11 offensive rebounds that led to 13-second chance points. The Lakers were able to force the Hornets to commit a game-high 19 turnovers compared to their 12.
The never-aging 37-year-old LeBron James was one of the main focal points in tonight’s big victory over the Hornets. After coming off back-to-back triple-doubles, James gave the Lakers another MVP performance scoring a game-high 37 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists in 36 minutes. James gave the Lakers 20 points and a near-perfect 8–9 (89%) from the field in the first half of tonight’s ball game, finishing 4–9 (44%) from three and 14–22 (64%) total from the field. In the Month of March, the Lakers are 6–1 and in those games, LeBron James is averaging:
28.8 PPG
9.8 AST
7.5 REBS
43.5% 3P%
57.8 TFG%
As the season has progressed LeBron James has looked better and better and has made an argument to be in the conversation for MVP this season. James field goal percentage has increased each month since the start of the season:
December: 47.3 FG%
January: 49.8 FG%
February: 52.0 FG%
March: 57.8 FG%
James had some praise from multiple people on this team, one coming from teammate Alex Caruso saying:
“You could give him the MVP every year if you really wanted to. He’s just that good, and he really is so valuable.”
The next coming from Lakers head coach Frank Vogeling stating:
“He’s the MVP of the league, in my opinion, thus far, he’s doing it every night, and no one is as deserving. [James] is the best player to ever play the game”
Dennis Schroder had a high-level performance for this Lakers squad tonight, finishing with 22 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds in 33 minutes in tonight’s win. The tandem of LeBron James and Dennis Schroder were able to combine for 59 points on the night giving the Lakers their 4th straight win.
After combining for 139 total points in the previous 2 games the Lakers bench was able to give that same energy in tonight’s ball game, finishing with a game-high 39 points.
Two players who led the way tonight were Kyle Kuzma and Talen Horton-Tucker combining for 24 points off the bench. Kyle Kuzma finished with 12 points and 5 rebounds on 4–10 (40%) shooting from the perimeter. Horton-Tucker also finished with 12 points on 5–9 (55%) shooting and a plus/minus of 16.
The Lakers were able to welcome back Alex Caruso, who was out the previous 2 games after suffering a concussion against the Golden State Warriors. Caruso had rusty moments tonight going 1–7 (14%) from the field but finished with a solid 5 points, 5 rebounds, and a plus/minus of 10 for this ball club.
The Lakers now look to continue their win streak as they have a back-to-back game schedule this Saturday and Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks and Phoenix Suns, making it 5 games played in 7 days.
