Los Angeles Lakers 110-128 Washington Wizards: 3 Talking Points as Wizards rout LeBron James and Co.

In a cross-conference match, the Los Angeles Lakers visited the Washington Wizards at the Capital One Arena on their Eastern Conference road trip. The Lakers were the heavy favorites going in since the Wizards had lost their previous 4 matches and Lakers were playing their best basketball in recent times.

But they did what every young team usually does. They were inconsistent and failed to keep building up that momentum of wins which they would need if they want a top spot in their respective conference.

From the starting quarter, it looked crystal clear about what was going to happen in the match. As the Wizards were clearly showing a lot of intent and focus on winning the game. They just had it and the Lakers clearly wanted it as they were badly missing it.

The Wizards were better on defense, offense, rebounding and almost every other major category worth caring about.

Now, with all that in mind, let’s look at the top takeaways from the game:

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#1 John Wall is back

John Wall shot at nearly 60% accuracy from the field on the night

John Wall has not been playing his best basketball this year and the direct effect of that can be seen on his team, as the Wizards are at an abysmal 11th in the east. But in today’s game, it seemed like Wall could do no wrong.

He looked like a man on a mission and ended up with 40 points and 14 assists. He was driving, shooting, passing, making crucial plays, getting steals and even blocking the shots. In short, he was everywhere.

The Wizards needed their best player Wall to come up with something amazing to break their losing streak and get back to winning ways, and Wall didn’t disappoint. He showed up, put the team on his back and single-handedly took the game away from the Lakers.

Before this contest Wall was averaging 20.8 ppg, 8.7 assists on 44.3% shooting and 30% from the 3-point line.

#2 LeBron James fails to show up for the Lakers

LeBron James had a -21 differential on the night

In what is very shocking to believe and something that rarely happens, the greatest player on the planet failed to show up and save his team from a disaster.

LeBron James was almost invisible in the whole game and that’s pretty much the biggest reason Lakers lost this contest. I mean, you can’t win a game, if your best player fails to show up unless you’re the Warriors.

James finished the match with forgettable stats of 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 turnovers on 5-16 shooting. This rarely happens with the King as is known for his consistency and ability to show up even in the darkest of times. So, let’s hope that it was just a one-off and he will come back in the next game and put the Lakers back to winning ways.

#3 3-point shooting a difference maker

Jeff Green made 4 3-pointers from 6 attempts while LeBron James went 0 for 2 from downtown

We get it, the Lakers are not a good shooting team. They haven't got the best of scorers on their roster. But to shoot so poorly in such an important contest is a sign of bad things for the young Lakers.

It shows their lack of focus and consistency. The Lakers shot 11-36 from the 3-point line meaning a conversion rate of less than 30% from downtown.

On the other hand, Washington showed a lot of depth, by shooting 13-31 from the 3-point line at a conversion rate of 42%. This is hopefully a sign of positive things to come for the Wizards as they had lost their previous 4 encounters, two of which came at the hands of bottom feeder teams in Cleveland and Brooklyn.

They were supposed to finish in the playoffs this year and possibly even go into another round of the playoffs, so hopefully, they are just scratching the surface and we can expect performances like these from the Wizards now.