Lakers without James won at Utah, Hachimura-Davis duo rampage

The Los Angeles Lakers were successful at the Delta Center against Utah, even though Lebron James did not start the game. Hachimura-Davis duo was on a rampage for the visiting team, scoring 73 points in the 138:122 victory.

Rui Hachimura played the game of his life

the 26-year-old Hachimura is in his second season with the Lakers and was the perfect replacement for the absent James, who got a chance in the starting lineup in the last game before the All-Star break and used his 33 minutes on the floor to score 36 points for the Jazz.

The Japanese basketball player has a career average of 12 points per game and this is his new personal best in the NBA. However, the game’s top scorer was Anthony Davis, who scored one more point and added 15 rebounds.

The Lakers came out swinging in the first quarter, dominating the game 34-28. No one stood out on the Jazz side throughout the game, with seven players scoring in double figures. Collin Sexton was the top scorer with 18 points.

The official statement as to why James did not play for the second straight game is that he was treating an ankle injury. But nothing should stop him from playing in his 20th All-Star game on Sunday in Indianapolis.

The Los Angeles Lakers controlled the game from the third quarter

The Lakers finally broke the resistance of the home team in the third quarter, which they won by 15 points and calmly defended the aforementioned lead until the end of the game. The team from Los Angeles is serious about making the playoffs, improving their season record to 30-26 and catching up with the 8th team in the Western Conference, Sacramento Kings, who are defending their position with a 31-23 record.

Hachimura also helped himself to a new personal best with 6 successful three-point attempts, surpassing his previous best of 30 points by 6 points. He has now managed to break that mark for the 5th time in his 5-year NBA career.

In addition, Davis and Hachimura became the first Lakers duo since Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in 2003 to score at least 35 points in a game together. Traditional scorer D’Angelo Russell was held to just 11 points, but he set a personal high in assists, producing 17, and it was the accurate passes that benefited the pair of the game’s top scorers.

Source: NBA