Story By: Sol Tucker
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Washington, D.C–
There have been plenty of memorable matchups of the Wizards and Lakers over the past 25 years in Capital One Arena, but tonight may have been one of the most memorable in recent history and unfortunately for the Wizards, they came out on the wrong side of another classic in a 130-119 loss t the Lakers.
Anthony Davis has seemed to find a groove and his 55 points tonight was just the start Davis said after the game.
After scoring 44 points against Milwaukee in his previous game, Davis came close to his career-high of 59 against Detroit in 2016. He’s averaging 35.3 points in his last nine games.
“Coming off a huge win in Milwaukee, can’t get complacent, get comfortable,” Davis said.
“Our team is locked in right now,” Davis said. “Very focused on both sides of the ball. Overall, we’re just trying to make up ground.”
LeBron James had 29 points as the Lakers won their fourth straight road game. They are 8-2 in their last 10 games while trying to extricate themselves from a 2-10 start.
For the Wizards, the absence of Bradley Beal was once again felt deep in the game when the Lakers seemed to take away any ground the Wizards had. There was no report immediately given for Beal following the game but has been dealing with those hamstring issues and perhaps could have reaggregated it again tonight. He did not return to the bench after exiting the game and heading to the locker room. He has been listed as day to day,
The loss tonight drops them to 11-13 on the season and questions linger how this team finds that one-two punch each night that will help knock out teams later in the game. Without the Beal, Porzingis, Kuzma combo, the .500 mark seems to be what they could be looking at up until the All-Star break.
Most notable tonight for the Wizards was their 5-for-25 from behind the 3-point line in the first half. Three of those five makes came from backup shooting guard Corey Kispert, who finished with 16 points.
Kyle Kuzma finished with 26 points but was no use for the Wizards in that final run as he fouled out as their only real threat to keep AD and Le Bron from scoring at the other end.
Washington continues to struggle with their bench play as Rui Hachimura is still out with ankle soreness and Delon Wright has not played since October 25th