Two days after Lakers They said it would almost never be easy, they almost never came to the city.
The Washington Wizards, who have won a league-low six times, were the cure for the Lakers after a loss Sunday to the Clippers exposed several of their weaknesses. Postgame morale was low, LeBron James and JJ Redick openly discussing how your list could not organically improve an already narrow margin of error.
But with the midway point of the season here on Tuesday, the Lakers played the only team in the NBA bad enough to make anyone, even the Lakers, feel like they have it figured out.
The Lakers did the right thing consistently for four quarters, and were barely threatened before that. winning 111-88 in a game they desperately needed before hosting Boston on Thursday night.
“It all starts with a very professional approach from our team,” Redick said. “That was one of our most complete games, regardless of the time of the season or who the opponent was. “We just had a really professional approach.”
The Wizards (6-36), in the early stages of a rebuild with their eyes on the top of the NBA draft, have not won since Jan. 1. Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole are their top offensive options and backup center Jonas Valanciunas and forward Corey Kispert are the only other veterans, Washington is fully committed to the future.
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Compared to the Lakers (23-18), whose eyes are fixed on the present, that made Tuesday predictably one-sided, although the Lakers still needed to execute.
Anthony Davis scored 29 points and 16 rebounds while intimidating rookie Alex Sarr. James, fresh from watching his beloved Ohio State win the College Football Playoff national championship on Monday in Atlanta, recorded his ninth triple-double of the season with 21 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds. Austin Reaves, despite a 4-of-15 shooting night, finished with 16 points and eight assists, and Dorian Finney-Smith scored 16 points off the bench in just 22 minutes.
The Lakers did it by attacking the paint and finding the open player, and the team scored on more than a handful of lobs.
“It’s…just being ready to make the passes on time and on target,” James said. “And when we do that, we look pretty good.”
The highlight came when Reaves found James for a lob off an offensive rebound, with the 40-year-old Lakers star dunking over Valanciunas.

“I got excited. Screaming so loud I almost passed out,” Davis said. “I mean, it wasn’t one of his best, but I’ve seen better. But it was good.”
The Lakers held Washington to 35.8% shooting from the field and 25.6% from 3-point range and held the Wizards to 11 points in the fourth quarter.
“We went out, we had a game plan and we executed it,” James said. “I thought defensively we were great. We were in tune with what they wanted to do, what they were trying to do. And offensively we shared the ball and limited our turnovers. “We were really good.”
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.