LeBron James Matches Career-High with 9 Three-Pointers, Leading Lakers to Victory over Nets

Against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on Sunday night, the Los Angeles Lakers resumed their road trip with the intention of getting back on track.

The Lakers were hoping for some payback after losing to the Nets at home earlier in the season, and they succeeded in doing so with a 116-104 victory.

Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura worked hard inside to get Los Angeles out to a quick 6-0 lead, forcing an early timeout from the Nets. After the timeout, Brooklyn saw no improvement as the Lakers continued to dominate. With a triple by Hachimura and another dunk from Davis, the score was 15-0, resulting in yet another early timeout.

The Nets didn’t appear on the scoreboard until over halfway through the first quarter, to a tepid cheer from their home crowd. LeBron James’ free throws and five straight points from Davis helped the Lakers take a commanding 26-4 lead.

At that point, following knee surgery, Lakers guard Gabe Vincent showed up for the first time since December. After grabbing a rebound, he made his first appearance on the stat sheet with a midrange bank shot. At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers led 31-11, and everything appeared to be going according to plan.

With a bucket to start the second, D’Angelo Russell reached 10,000 points for his career. James then joined in on the fun, making three consecutive 3-pointers. However, the Lakers defense gave up a lot, and the Nets swiftly cut their lead back to 15, forcing head coach Darvin Ham to call a timeout.

Hachimura returned to work inside with two more buckets in a succession, realizing that the squad was in need of some. Russell then made a deep shot to extend the advantage back to twenty. After that, Russell found Reaves for another alley-oop, and James beat the buzzer to put the Lakers ahead 67-44 at the half. The fun just kept getting better.

In the third quarter, Russell and Reaves continued to have a good time, each coming up with steals and buckets early. But the Nets responded admirably, going on a 12-2 run sparked by Dennis Schroder, showing that they were not going to give up easily.

The Lakers were very sloppy with the ball in the third quarter, which led to turnovers. After Cam Thomas warmed up for Brooklyn, they were able to close the gap to 11 points at the end of the third quarter, 90-79, after Thomas beat the buzzer with a putback.

For the first time since the opening two minutes of the contest, Brooklyn pulled within single digits with a goal to start the fourth. James, though, responded admirably, making back-to-back triples.

LeBron was already putting on a show, and it just got better from there because he was profoundly unconscious. By himself, he ended the game, and the Barclays audience was up and encouraging him to make more shots.

James would go on to record a phenomenal 13 of 17 field goals and 9 of 10 from beyond the arc for the night, along with 40 points, six rebounds, and seven assists.