LeBron James excels as Lakers overtake Hawks to win best fourth consecutive game of the season
If their win over the Hawks on Friday night is anything to go by, it looks like the Lakers are turning.
The comfortable 134-118 win was the team’s fourth straight win of the best season and took the Lakers to 21-19 of the season, their first two games over the .500 since Dec. 17.
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Five players scored double figures for the Lakers as the team took down 17 players by 3-points with a performance of 41.5%, both leaps from their season averages of 12 respectively. ,1 and 35.1%. On defense, they scored 14 steals in one of the best fouls in the league and scored 28 points from the Hawks’ 15 goals.
All of this without Anthony Davis, so there’s plenty to celebrate from this Lakers win.
LeBron James continues to stretch superhuman
In 36 minutes, LeBron James scored 32 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks on 13/24 shots from the field.
Can you believe those are the numbers recorded by a player who has just turned 37? Yes, His Majesty is making it believable. According to StatmuseJames is the first player since 1975 to score at least 30/8/8/3/3 at the age of 34.
With this game, the Lakers improve to a 5-0 undefeated as he plays in the center while average 127 points per game. More than just numbers, James is still entertaining with some excellent cinematic highlights.
While he puts out spectacular stats, he credits recent team success to those returning to the roster.
“It’s as simple as that… We’re starting to see what we have because of the boys in the lineup,” James said after the game.
Malik Monk erupts in the most beautiful season
Malik Monk is enjoying the best season of his career with the Lakers in his fifth year in the league, especially during his recent stint as a starter.
Against the Hawks, the 6-foot-3 guard earned a season-high total of 29 points with 21 of those coming from outside the arc.
This match brought his season-average to a career high of 12.1 points per game. He also scores a career high of 48.1% from the pitch and scores 2.1 3 points per game at a career high of 39.7, not far from his all-time high. His karma is 40.1%.
Glimpses of Horton-Tucker’s Promise
After some really tough games in December, Talen Horton-Tucker put together a great game against the Hawks.
In 30 minutes, he scored 21 points, including a personal 10-0 goal late in the third half as the Lakers really began to separate from the Hawks. Along with that, he also made 5 assists out of 7/13 shots from the field.
Team play at both ends
37 tectonic lines. 14 steals and only 8 spins. Those are numbers that don’t usually lead to a win.
Similar to their 3-point shot, these numbers are a big step in the right direction from the team’s season-average – 24.6 assists (10th best), 8, 4 (best 7th) and 15.3 turns (26th).
“We know that if we don’t beat ourselves, we can be hard to beat,” head coach Frank Vogel said after the game. The Lakers give an average of 17.2 points on spins, this 25th in the tournament.
The challenge for the team now is to maintain this standard of play and they have a great test coming up on Sunday to do so when they host the Memphis Grizzlies, who have won seven games in a row.
