LeBron James, Luka, Reaves' Fit Hyped By Fans After Lakers' NBA Cup Win vs. Clippers
The Los Angeles Lakers' main trio continues to shine, as LeBron James, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves led the way in Tuesday's 135-118 win over the Los Angeles Clippers to advance to the knockout stage of the NBA Cup.
James, in his third game since returning from injury, had his best performance of the season with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, six assists and six rebounds in 32 minutes.
Dončić finished one rebound shy of a 40-point triple-double. The five-time All-Star put up 43 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds. Reaves also contributed a double-double with 31 points and nine rebounds in 35 minutes.
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If you put it all together, the Lakers' stars scored 99 of their 135 points, dished out 22 of their 29 assists and 24 of their 38 rebounds.
The key storyline for Los Angeles coming into the season was how the players around Dončić and James would perform. Reaves elevating to become an All-Star-caliber player is a huge reason the Lakers are hanging around the top of the Western Conference standings.
Not surprisingly, the response from fans and analysts to how this group has fit together earned high praise after their impressive win over the Clippers.
The Lakers have now won five straight games, tying their longest streak of the season. Their 13-4 record is tied with the Denver Nuggets for No. 2 in the West, behind only the Oklahoma City Thunder.
They didn't win their 13th game last season until Dec. 8. They went through the group stage of the NBA Cup with a perfect 3-0 record and a plus-36 point differential. Oklahoma City is the only Western Conference team with a better scoring margin in Cup play (plus-63 in one game remaining on Wednesday).
Things are set up well for the Lakers to get this streak up to seven games with home matchups against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday and New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.
Los Angeles' next game against a team over .500 is on Dec. 1 against the Phoenix Suns.
