The massive names have stood up because the Los Angeles Lakers claimed their ninth win in 10 video games to climb into eighth within the NBA Western Conference with 4 common season video games remaining.
D’Angelo Russell scored 28 factors, LeBron James added 24 and Anthony Davis had 22 factors and 13 rebounds for the Lakers who beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 116-97 in Los Angeles on Saturday.
The Lakers improved to 45-33 with their fourth straight win. They nonetheless are in place to land within the play-in event, however ending seventh or eighth means they’d solely have to win one sport to earn a playoff spot.
“We’re very confident in our ballclub,” Davis stated. “We laugh about like, oh, winning nine out of 10, you know, 10 out of 11, whatever. and we’re not gaining anywhere. That’s how good the West (conference) is.”
It is the primary time since December 29 the Lakers have been eighth within the convention. But coach Darvin Ham isn’t targeted on seeding simply on the Lakers having momentum going into the postseason.
“Just take care of us. Continue to look for ways to get better individually and collectively. Everything else will take of itself,” he stated.
“We’ll fall exactly in the spot we’re supposed to fall, but the key is for us to be playing at a high level on both sides of the ball.’
Darius Garland scored 26 points for Cleveland and Caris LeVert had 21 off the bench. The Cavaliers (46-32) remained in third place in the East but have dropped two straight and three of their last four.
James improved to 18-4 against his former team, where he played for 11 seasons in two different stints. He had a pair of alley-oop dunks against the team he led to its lone NBA title in 2016.
“Once we defend we get stops and hold teams to one shot, what we do offensively is through the roof. It’s hard to contain us,” Ham stated.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
