Lakers: 48-Point LeBron James Night Powers LA To Narrow Win Over Rockets

LA secures first victory in last four tries.

The Houston Rockets brought a 10-game losing streak into tonight's Crypto.com Arena matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers, themselves on a three-game losing streak. Try their darnedest, someone would have to win this evening.

It turned out to be your Lakers by a hair, 140-132. Neither team played much defense at all, but thankfully Los Angeles had a guy by the name of LeBron James on its side.

The rest of this team looked pretty rough, as after two close losses to good teams, LA played down to its lowly competition. The 10-34 Rockets are, by record, the absolute worst team in the NBA. Loaded with erratic developing young players (and 34-year-old shooting guard Eric Gordon), Houston managed to make this a real game in the second half, despite LA threatening to run away with it after an explosive opening two frames.

In the first quarter, LA got off to a fast-paced, hot shooting start both around the rack and beyond the arc, although it did nothing to stop the Rockets from pouring it in on the other end. Los Angeles was connecting on 56.5% of its field goals, including 45.5% of its triples. The Lakers led by a possession after the period, 37-35.

The Lakers kicked off the second quarter on a 10-0 run, thanks in large part to some hustle play from reserve center/power forward Wenyen Gabriel, who scored 11 points during his first 11 minutes of play.

11 points in 11 minutes of action@WenyenGabriel ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/fpRuI6pbyr

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 17, 2023

Midway through the quarter, the Rockets started to catch up, going on a 9-0 run of their own to close the gap at the time to 54-51.

LeBron James, looking anything but 38, helped LA get some separation late in the half with a series of age-defying drives. LA closed the second quarter on a 9-1 tear.

Alperen Sengun, en route to a career scoring night, was giving Gabriel and starter Thomas Bryant fits, so Darvin Ham opted to assign James to cover him instead. That didn't exactly help slow him down, but it did give him a bit more trouble than the two centers could.

Here is your nightly reminder that LeBron James is somehow still doing this, aged 38, basically every time he plays:

"CLEAR THE LANE FOR THE KING." pic.twitter.com/YZ2bJbJQDF

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 17, 2023

James led all Lakers with 18 points at the end of the half, a good start but hardly a harbinger of what he'd need to do to help LA secure the W. Sengun led all scorers with 20 points, nine boards, three blocks, and three dimes. Three other Lakers (Gabriel, Patrick Beverley, and Russell Westbrook) were in double figures for the first two quarters with 11 a pop.

Los Angeles headed into the break leading by a dozen, 73-61. That tally represents ties LA's season-high for a first half.

For much of the third quarter, Sengun was the only reason the Rockets were even mildly still in the game... until the rest of the club got in on the fun, helping Houston close the gap on a 15-5 run during LA's non-LeBron minutes at the end of the quarter. The Lakers suddenly were leading just 102-98 heading into the final frame.

Los Angeles initially strived to separate itself from the Rockets early in the fourth quarter, but the Rockets would not go quietly, smelling blood. Neither team played much defense.

Unnecessarily lengthy ref reviews extended the game and kept things close late. But eventually, the Lakers did prevail. Russell Westbrook proved he's not the only 30+ year-old able to finish a flush:

ENERGY 🔋 pic.twitter.com/7MZfYoEFe2

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 17, 2023

But the big stories tonight were (a) LeBron James scoring a season high and (b) LeBron James needing to score a season high for LA to beat the worst team in the NBA. The Lakers are really feeling the absence of Anthony Davis, Lonnie Walker IV and Austin Reaves on the defensive end of the floor. That's not to say that Walker or Reaves are world-beaters, but they're probably the team's best perimeter defenders at this point (Patrick Beverley is in the mix for this dubious honor as well).

In the seven games he's played since turning 38, James is averaging a whopping 37 points per!

This evening, the 18-time All-Star scored his 48 points on 16-of-26 shooting from the field (including 5-of-10 from three) and 11-of-12 shooting from the charity stripe. He also dished out nine assists and grabbed eight boards.

Russell Westbrook scored 24 points on an efficient 9-of-16 shooting from the floor (it's his 12th 20+ point night as a reserve this year). Gabriel played more minutes (24:08) than starting center Thomas Bryant (just 17:41) for the second straight night, as Ham prioritized his quickness over Bryant's length and size. Gabriel responded with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, nine boards, two blocks, two assists, and a steal. 

Let's focus on the positives: LA's offense. The team did an excellent job protecting the ball, establishing a fresh franchise record of two turnovers as a team, per Mike Trudell of Lakers.com. LA enjoyed huge advantages in bench scoring (60-26), fast break points (27-7), and points off turnovers (12-4). The club shot fairly well as a unit: 49-of-91 from the field (53.8%), 12-of-33 from three-point land (36.4%), and 30-of-35 from the free throw line (85.7%).

With the win, LA improves to a 20-24 record on the season. They're still just the 13th seed in the West, but they're also just 3.5 games shy of the fifth-seeded 24-21 Dallas Mavericks.