Lakers hang on to win finale of long trip
In a game lacking proven hands and fresh legs, sometimes experience trumps all.
It stood out that Alex Caruso, the scrappy reserve guard who earned his stripes last postseason, helped clinch the final win of a bruising seven-game road trip Tuesday using both his shot and his smarts.
The 27-year-old was all over the grinding 101-93 victory over the Charlotte Hornets at the finish, scoring the winning 3-pointer, then coming up with a critical rebound that allowed him to shoot the game-clinching free throws.
“There’s something about the end of the game that I love being a part of,” he said. “I love having my hand in it.”
The Lakers all but limped to the finish line of a victory that gave them a 4-3 record for the trip. The final minutes of the game were played on flat feet, as a banged-up Lakers squad struggled to close out the equally shorthanded Hornets — who were playing without starters Gordon Hayward, LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier and P.J. Washington and reserve Malik Monk, totaling five of its top six scorers.
Defensive plays and timely 3-point shooting helped bail out the Lakers, and allowed them to keep a firmer grip on fifth place
in the Western Conference standings ahead of a threegame homestand that will see them take on Boston, followed by the league-leading Utah Jazz twice.
Kyle Kuzma paced the Lakers with 24 points and Dennis Schröder had 19. While Caruso was a little bit down the list with 13 points, the Lakers outscored Charlotte by 21 points during his 25 minutes, leading coach Frank Vogel to call him “the star of the game.”
A key part of the championship run last season, Caruso displayed his PhD in dirty work in the closing minutes. While his 10 points in the fourth quarter were key, so were his rebounds, and the turnovers he forced — including one by taking a charge. Kuzma called it classic Caruso.
“I think the guys that have been here, we just know how to make championship-winning plays: Plain and simple,” he added.
The guys who haven’t been there didn’t blend so fluidly on offense on the second night of a back-toback, coming off a frustrating turnover-filled loss to New York. While the Lakers cut down their giveaways to just 11, their offense again churned to a halt in the paint. Andre Drummond had just four points and Montrezl Harrell had six, leading to the Lakers getting outscored in the paint 50-32.
But in addition to his 12 rebounds, Drummond also made a difference with his hands, plucking off his third steal of the game against Cody Zeller with 1:05 to go, leading to Caruso’s big 3-pointer. While Drummond laughed at some of his own offensive struggles, calling it “probably the worst I’ve played in my career,” he kept an eye on the larger picture. Come the postseason, the Lakers won’t necessarily be counting on him to score loads of points.
“I’m not allowing it to take me out of my game,” Drummond said. “I know why I’m here, which is to help this team defensively. Offensively, it will come for me.”
The Lakers were muddled on offense early, missing a key leader of late after Markieff Morris was a relatively late scratch with a sprained left ankle. Without Morris, the team turned to its 17th different starting lineup of the season and opened the game with an understandable lack of chemistry.
But the Lakers had enough burst to close out quarters in the first half that served as a saving grace. An 11-0 run helped give them gain a lead at the end of the first quarter, and they closed the final 2:52 of the half on a 13-2 run to take a surprising halftime edge.
The Lakers wound up making 16 3-pointers, seven more than the Hornets. But their lack of energy showed up on the glass, where the Hornets were able to corral 12 offensive rebounds.
The end of the road trip found the Lakers ailing: Even among the players who were available, Kuzma acknowledged he’s been strung up with calf cramps, and Kentavious CaldwellPope was treated for back spasms early in the game. Vogel acknowledged that the game wasn’t always pretty; he was pleased to see the Lakers win regardless.
But with Anthony Davis, LeBron James and some others still not sure to return soon, the work never ends.
“It’s just been a challenge,” Vogel said. “So to come out of this stretch 4-3 we’re happy with, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do, still don’t have those guys back yet and we’ve got to win some games this week.”