LOS ANGELES — There’s always a good way to break out of a losing streak. Play the Houston Rockets.
The NBA’s worst team came to town Monday and didn’t disappoint the Lakers, who snapped a three-game skid with a 140-132 victory at Crypto.com Arena.
LeBron James scored 48 points and continued to stalk Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record as the Lakers successfully fended off a late Houston rally.
It’s the third time James scored 40 or more points since turning 38 three weeks ago.
“I think it’s historic, man, on a lot of different levels,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said.
James now trails Abdul-Jabbar by 315 points for the top spot on the all-time list. Barring injury, he will get there in a few weeks, if not sooner, if he keeps breaking the 40-point barrier.
James said he was “extremely tired” Monday, the day after the Lakers suffered a physical one-point loss to Philadelphia.
“It’s my job to go out and play,” said James, who also had nine assists and eight rebounds. “I’m not going to make every shot, but I’m just trying to lock in on the job at hand.”
Despite James’ outburst, it was a team effort in a very real way.
The Lakers (20-24) set a franchise record by committing only two turnovers, a remarkable example of ball control in today’s push-the-pace environment.
“I thought it was huge,” Ham said. “Obviously we did a great job … trying to be more deliberate offensively.”
Juan Toscano-Anderson committed one of the turnovers by stepping out of bounds in the first quarter. Troy Brown Jr. committed the other after losing the ball out of bounds in the second quarter.
Whatever.
It wasn’t necessarily victory to be celebrated. After all, Houston lost for the 16th time in its last 17 games, including 11 in a row.
The Rockets (10-34) pulled within 133-131 on Eric Gordon’s layup with 1:11 to play. James, however, pushed the Lakers’ lead to six by banking in a 17-footer from the right side and then make two free throws on the next possession.
A big boost came from the Lakers’ reserves, who outscored Houston’s backups, 60-26. Russell Westbrook scored 24 points, Kendrick Nunn had 15 and Wenyen Gabriel continued his recent uptick with 14 points.
Patrick Beverley returned from a two-game absence (non-COVID illness) and scored 11 points, all of them in the first half as the Lakers took a 73-61 lead.
Rockets center Alpern Shengun led Houston with a career-high 33 points and added 15 rebounds.
The Lakers were favored for the first time since Dec. 23, coming into the game as 7.5-point favorites.
The one thing lacking from this game was controversy. There was plenty of it in the Lakers’ last two games, which were still being discussed Monday. Earlier in the day, James tweeted his displeasure with the officiating this season after declining to criticize the referees to reporters for several days. Apparently, he’d had enough after sleeping on it Sunday night.
“And all year they keep telling me to my face on the court, ‘I didn’t see it’ or ‘It wasn’t a foul’. It’s not making sense to me seriously! Frustrating as hell man! Anyways keep going Squad!” he wrote.
Last Thursday against Dallas, a foul was not called as James drove to the basket and was knocked on the arm by Mavericks center Christian Wood with three seconds left in the first overtime. The Lakers ended up losing by four in double overtime. The NBA acknowledged its mistake the following day in its so-called “two-minute report.”
And on Monday, Russell Westbrook was held by Philadelphia center Joel Embiid while driving down the left side in the final seconds. No foul was called and Westbrook missed a driving lay-up as time expired. The Lakers lost by one. The NBA backed up the referees’ non-call in its two-minute report released Monday. James tweeted his general displeasure a few hours after the report was released.
No such drama against Houston. Just the start of a new winning streak, the Lakers hope.