CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Lakers’ Monday night matchup against the Charlotte Hornets was the kind of game that has plagued them for most of the season.
They’ve shown the tendency to play with greater intensity against teams higher in the standings, such as their back-to-back victories over the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks, but not bring that same focus against inferior opponents.
The Lakers, for the most part, made sure that wasn’t the case this time, beating the Hornets, 124-118, at Spectrum Center to close out their Grammy road trip at 4-2 and move multiple games over .500 (27-25) for the first time since Dec. 28.
LeBron James (26 points, seven assists), Anthony Davis (26 points, 15 rebounds, 11 assists, three blocked shots) and D’Angelo Russell (28 points, six assists) all played significant roles as the Lakers shot 64% from the field while building a 74-58 halftime lead.
They extended the lead to 80-60 early in the third quarter and 98-77 late in the third, but then they seemingly took their foot off the gas, allowing the Hornets (10-39) to go on a 9-2 run to close the quarter, which cut the margin to 100-86 going into the fourth.
The Lakers became jump-shot happy early in the fourth, missing a lot of those looks as the Hornets trimmed the deficit to 10.
And by the time the Lakers turned the intensity back up, the Hornets had found their rhythm offensively.
Brandon Miller (33 points on 13-for-25 shooting, four steals), the No. 2 pick in last June’s draft, scored 10 consecutive points in a 1½-minute stretch in the fourth to cut the Lakers’ lead to 117-113 with just two minutes remaining.
After a James three-point play, Miles Bridges (career-high 41 points) had an and-one layup of his own to cut the deficit back to 120-116.
Davis, who achieved his third career triple-double before the fourth quarter, blocked a Bridges 3-point attempt with 33 seconds left to seal the victory, with Austin Reaves (nine points, 11 assists) making a pair…
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