In their first game after the NBA All-Star break, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets 111-106 behind LeBron James’ 29 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. The win was Los Angeles’ 29th of the season, with 24 more games left to play. Brandon Ingram added 27 points and 13 rebounds for the Lakers.
Los Angeles was down by as many as 19 points midway in the third quarter, but slowly clawed their way back as the game progressed.
The Rockets were led by their superstar backcourt duo of Jamed Harden (30 pts., 5 rebs., 6 asts.) and Chris Paul (23 pts., 10 rebs., 9 asts.), both of whom fouled out late in the game. The duo complained in their post-game presser about referee Scott Foster having a personal vendetta on them, hence the numerous fouls called on Harden and Paul.
This is rich coming from the two biggest floppers in the game and a team that thrives off of bad officiating (this is a personal blog by a Lakers fan and not some news site, of course I’ll insert some of my opinions here).
Other Laker players that made contributions are Kyle Kuzma (18 pts., 6 rebs., 5 asts.), newcomer Reggie Bullock (14 pts. on 50% 3FG, JaVale McGee (11 pts., 6 rebs.) and Josh Hart, who is still battling tendinitis, was a game high +22 despite scoring only four points thanks to his hustle.
The Lakers’ next game is on Feb. 22 at New Orleans.
patrickkennan.com 