Playing without their red-hot star Anthony Davis, the Los Angeles Lakers travel to the nation’s capital to face the reeling Washington Wizards on Thursday.
Los Angeles saw its four-game winning streak come to an end Tuesday in a 118-104 setback to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Davis exited the game in the first half with an abdominal strain, which will sideline him for at least a week. Prior to Tuesday, Davis was averaging 32.8 points and 15 rebounds over the previous four games, including a 42-point, 23-rebound output in Monday’s win over the Charlotte Hornets.
Los Angeles shot 51.4 percent from the field on Tuesday but turned the ball over 22 times on the second night of a back-to-back.
“I’m not sure where our collective brains were at, but I understand the physical fatigue,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said. “We were a step slow all night. We had bad decision making, poor execution, we were very unorganized throughout the game. You have to look at the big picture, which is that we’re heading in the right direction.”
LeBron James had 31 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to lead the Lakers on Tuesday for his highest scoring total since Jan. 2. Behind Davis’ team-leading 25.7 points and 11.9 rebounds per game, James adds 23.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and a team-high nine assists per contest.
The Wizards are in the process of following their worst season in franchise history with another abysmal campaign. Washington is mired in a 15-game losing streak, including a 111-88 road setback to the Lakers on Jan. 21.
Washington lost at home to the Toronto Raptors 106-82 on Wednesday, as the Wizards were just 5 of 30 on 3-point attempts and committed 27 turnovers.
A bright spot for Washington in an otherwise dreadful season has been the play of Jordan Poole. In his second season with the Wizards, Poole is averaging a career-high 20.7 points per game, but struggled on Wednesday, scoring just three points on 1-for-9 shooting from the field.
“You’re going to have tough nights, give credit to Toronto where it’s due,” Wizards head coach Brian Keefe said of Poole’s off night. “They took him out of his rhythm. Jordan will bounce back. He always does.”
Kyle Kuzma had 19 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. It was his third double-double of the campaign and second over the past three games.
The Wizards fell behind 14-0 to begin the game, a continuing trend throughout Washington’s losing streak.
“Starts — we got to be better at for sure,” Keefe said. “That was the tale of this game. … They put their hands on us. They were more physical with us. … We got to start better. That’s something we got to get better at and address right away.”
Kuzma follows Poole’s lead with 14.5 points per game, while Bilal Coulibaly chips in 12.3. The Wizards are searching for their first win over Los Angeles since March 2022, following five consecutive losses in the series.
–Field Level Media
