The Los Angeles Lakers embarked on their first true road trip of the season this past week, beginning in Boston against the Celtics in which the Lakers came out flat and were never able to recover resulting in a loss.
The next night they faced another Eastern Conference playoff team in the Washington Wizards, and again the Lakers came out flat falling behind by double digits in the first half.
Much like against Boston, the Lakers showed heart in working their way back from the double-digit lead, but as is the case with most young teams, they came up short and the Wizards pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 111-95 win.
Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball struggled with his shot again, but impacted the game in many other ways and nearly missed his first career triple-double, scoring 10 points to go along with eight rebounds and eight assists on 3-of-12 shooting.
The Wizards backcourt duo of John Wall and Bradley Beal proven to be pretty unstoppable, as Wall finished with 23 points, eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and three big blocks while Beal had 22 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists.
Julius Randle also had another solid performance for the Lakers, putting up 11 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. Randle (11.4 points, 6.5 rebounds) is the only player in the NBA averaging at least 11 points and six rebounds in 20 or fewer minutes per game (19.2). His .607 field goal percentage ranks sixth in the NBA.
The loss dropped the Lakers to 5-7 on the season, and things don’t get easier for them as they face yet another Eastern Conference powerhouse in Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks Saturday night before closing out the road trip in Phoenix against the Suns.
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