Hornets Finally Get Best of LeBron with a 134-130 Win Over the Lakers

The Hornets pull off a nail-biter win against Lebron and the Los Angeles Lakers.

In one of the most insane endings you will ever see, the Hornets were able to pull out the win in chaotic fashion. The ending included a four on one fastbreak turned over by the Lakers, a goaltend on a Hayward layup, and LeBron losing his shoe on the final play. The Hornets had lost 46 of 52 games previously against LeBron James. Well, they finally got the best of him tonight as it took a whole team effort to defeat him. The Hornets had Terry Rozier, PJ Washington, LaMelo Ball, and Kelly Oubre all over 19 points. 

The Hornets and Lakers both started out slow on the offensive end, but once they got going it became a high scoring game for both sides. LeBron James scored the Lakers first six out of nine points and the Lakers held a 20-11 advantage in the first quarter. The Hornets looked lost on the defensive end multiple times in the first quarter as they allowed a lot of easy layups and lost track of the Lakers shooters. Wenyen Gabriel had an early impact for the Lakers off the bench with seven first quarter points. Gordon Hayward had six points at the end of the quarter. The Hornets trailed 31-27 after one.

The Hornets started the second quarter on a massive run, which was led by defensive stops and a couple of and-ones. The Hornets took off with a 17-3 run to give the Hornets a 44-34 lead. However, the Lakers would strike back as LeBron stopped the Hornets stinging run with a three-pointer. Dennis Schroeder then proceeded to go on a personal 7-0 run to cut the Hornets lead to two. Nick Richards got caught in foul trouble in the first half with three fouls. LaMelo, after a rough first quarter got going in the second as he scored seven points in the quarter. LaMelo got assessed with a flagrant one near the end of the half due to him not giving room for Reaves to land on a three-pointer, which resulted in a Lakers five point play. An entertaining second quarter ended in James knocking down a three-pointer to tie the game at 67 before halftime. PJ Washington had one of his best halves in the last month as he scored 14 points and had three three-pointers made (first time he's made three or more threes since December 5th). Kelly Oubre Jr also made a nice impact with 12 points in the first half. The Lakers who average 9.9 3PM (league low) shot 10-21 from three in the first half. The Hornets got the best of the Lakers in the paint as they outscored them 36-22 through the first two quarters. The Hornets won the quarter 40-36 as they shot 69.6% from the field in the second. (season-high). 

The Hornets got off to another huge run to start a quarter as they opened the second half with an 21-5 run to give the Hornets a 88-72 lead. Terry Rozier, who missed the last two games with a hip injury was a huge factor in the Hornets big run in the third quarter as he knocked down three triples in that stretch. The Lakers then went on a run of their own to cut the lead to just five. The Lakers second unit led by Westbrook and Reaves were a big part of that run in the third quarter. The Hornets outscored the Lakers 30-20 in the third quarter to give them a 97-87 lead heading into the fourth. Terry Rozier appeared to tweak his ankle on the last play of the quarter and limped throughout the rest of the game.

The Hornets terrible injury luck this season continued as Hornets center Nick Richards had a nasty ankle sprain at the beginning of the fourth quarter and did not return. The hobbling Terry Rozier hit a big three to give the Hornets a 110-100 lead with seven minutes remaining in the game. Lonnie Walker had a four point play a few moments later to cut it to a seven point game, which gave Oubre his fifth foul of the contest. LeBron cut the Hornets lead to three with back-to-back baskets. The Hornets came out of the timeout with a PJ Washington dunk that resulted in and-one. Soon after, PJ Washington had another big time dunk as he drove past Lebron and threw it down. Then Terry Rozier hit a big-time three to give the Hornets a 124-116 advantage. Thomas Bryant left the game late in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury. The Hornets and Lakers went back-and-forth with a couple of triples late in the fourth. Lebron James tied the game at 130 with 42 seconds remaining. The Lakers had a four on one break and lost the ball out of bounds to give the Hornets the ball back with 32 seconds remaining. Gordon Hayward had an important rebound off the Terry Rozier miss, which resulted in a goaltend to give the Hornets a two point lead with six seconds remaining. On the last play of the game for the Lakers, James lost his shoe and passed it to a wide open Dennis Schroeder, who missed the game winning shot. PJ Washington hit two free throws on the other end to seal it for the Hornets. 

Top performers:

LaMelo Ball: 23 points 8 rebounds 8 assists

Terry Rozier: 23 points 6 assists 4 rebounds

PJ Washington: 24 points 4 assists 2 blocks

Kelly Oubre: 19 points 5 rebound 1 assist

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