NEW YORK — After Friday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers to end their season-best five-game winning streak, the Lakers needed a “get-right game” ahead of a back-to-back to close out this six-game trip.
Sunday night became that, with LeBron James scoring a season-high-tying 40 points, including 17 in the fourth, to lead the Lakers to a 116-104 victory over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center.
“It’s a really good feeling when you have it going and you’re winning,” James said. “That’s most important for me.”
The Lakers (42-33) dominated the early parts of the game, including holding the Nets scoreless in the first half of the opening quarter, leading to an early Lakers’ 17-0 lead, a 31-7 advantage later in the quarter and eventually a 72-46 lead early in the third.
But Cam Thomas (30 points and six assists) made sure the Nets didn’t go down quietly, leading a 9-2 Nets run that trimmed Brooklyn’s deficit to 90-79 going into the fourth. The Lakers’ 14 second-half turnovers, including 11 in the third, also helped the Nets get back in the game.
“Dropped the rope in terms of what we were doing that established the lead,” Ham said. “Came out in the third quarter, turned the ball over way too much.”
Thomas opened the fourth with a 3-pointer to cut the Lakers’ lead to 90-82.
From there, James took over.
The back-to-back 3s from James gave the Lakers a 96-82 lead with 10:50 remaining.
James continued to put pressure on the Nets’ defense, scoring five points over the next three minutes before hitting his third and fourth 3s of the game, including a fadeaway from the right wing to give the Lakers a 111-93 lead with 6:21 left.
He subbed out with 2:57 left, with the Lakers leading 114-98, to a standing ovation from the fans inside Barclays Center.
“The appreciation from fans here, I just try to give them the game back,” James said. “It was very well-received. And I just try to reciprocate by going out and playing the game I love to play at a high level.”
James went 9-for-10 on 3s against the Nets, matching a career-high that he set when he made nine 3s against the Clippers last season on Jan. 24, 2023.
“It’s incredible,” Ham said. “I told him in the huddle before his last little stretch and we ultimately subbed him out, just extremely thankful that he packed the cape on the road trip. Needed all nine of those threes.”
James is shooting a career-high 41.6% on 3s.
“I’ve been able to be on the floor a lot more on non-game days,” James said. “My foot has felt a lot better. I didn’t have much time to like really rep a lot last year. I’ve had a lot of opportunity to get on the floor. You probably see me before every game out on the floor, working on my game, working on my craft. So that’s helped out a lot too. And just trying to stay consistent with my shot, do the same shot every time. And just work.”
Anthony Davis added 24 points (9-for-12 shooting) and 14 rebounds. Rui Hachimura had a 20 point-10 rebound double-double. D’Angelo Russell finished with 18 points, six rebounds and six assists while Austin Reaves had 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
The Lakers’ starters scored all but two points of the team’s scoring total.
Gabe Vincent, who made his return to the floor after missing the previous 46 games following a Dec. 27 knee surgery, was the lone bench player to score, finishing with two points.
The Lakers close out their road trip with matchups against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday and the Washington Wizards on Wednesday for three games in four nights.
“You gotta find a way,” Davis said of the upcoming back-to-back. “We’re trying to constantly just climb in the standings and win basketball games. But the schedule is the schedule. There’s nothing you can do about it. We gotta make sure that we get our rest and get prepared for two other teams that are in the same position but got good players that can play.
“But we gotta come in with the same approach of starting off fast defensively and getting stops. But also learning from [Sunday] where we gotta come out to end halves better, especially the second quarter. And start the half better, the second half, to maintain our leads and now our starters and some of our role players can get some rest and let our young guys play.”