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The Los Angeles Lakers let the lowly Washington Wizards hang around a bit more than expected on Wednesday night, but ultimately Anthony Davis and LeBron James prevailed.
The former was fantastic in the 125-120 win, putting up 35 points, 18 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. The latter had another workmanlike performance by his own lofty standards, with 25 points, nine assists, six rebounds and three steals.
The Wizards, behind Jordan Poole’s 29 points, outscored the Lakers by 10 points in the fourth quarter and made things hairy for a 44-33 Lakers team that needs every last win in its last-gasp effort to avoid the Play-In Tournament.
Ultimately, AD and LeBron weren’t going to let them lose, and the duo earned its plaudits on social media after the contest:
Lakers Basketball @_LakersBball
Lucky both LeBron and AD played this game or else this would have been a loss. Yes it was a second night of a B2B and the end of a road trip but you got to take care of business against a poor team. The end of bench guys coming in and playing like that aren’t going to cut it.
KP @KevinP0210
That was a Lebron masterclass 4th quarter <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/lakers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#lakers</a> I can see him playing at this level for as least 2+ years, if not 3-4. His bball <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/iq?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#iq</a>
🎗NBA•Fan🎗 @Klutch_23
Another game where Anthony Davis puts up a monster stat line (35/18/5)<br><br>Yet nobody cares anymore. If any other big put up these numbers on a nightly basis, y’all would crown them in the MVP discussion.<br>Instead y’all still try and argue AD not top 10 when he’s closer to top 5.
The Lakers are now just two games back of the New Orleans Pelicans for the final automatic playoff berth, though both the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns are just one game behind New Orleans.
The Lakers are red hot at the moment, winners of eight of their last nine games. Even if they fail to avoid the Play-In Tournament, they aren’t a team anybody is itching to play at the moment.
Winning, meanwhile, is not something the Wizards (15-62) have done much of at the moment. That made it surprising that the Lakers couldn’t bury the Wizards late in the game, a referendum on a veteran bench.
But at this point for the Lakers, a win’s a win. More often than not, lately, they are finding a way to secure them.