Anthony Davis and LeBron James mixed for 77 factors on Friday evening, however with eight seconds left in extra time, Trae Younger made all their efforts for naught.
Each Davis and James had been questionable to play Friday, every with an damage to the left foot. However each performed, with James placing up a triple-double with 39 factors, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, plus two steals and three blocks. He broke out of his three-point hunch with a 6-for-11 efficiency from deep, his first sport with a number of three-pointers in six video games.
James repeatedly saved the Lakers late. After a back-and-forth remaining two minutes the place the lead modified 3 times, James recovered after Jalen Johnson knocked the ball away to make the game-tying layup.
Then James saved a game-tying layup with a chase-down block with 25 seconds to go in OT, a powerful effort from a 39-year-old who’d already performed 42 minutes, however actually no shock from LeBron, who could have been fired up by ESPN suggesting the Lakers ought to commerce him earlier within the day.
Davis was virtually as prolific, with 38 factors, 10 boards and eight assists, with two blocks and a steal. He had go-ahead buckets within the fourth quarter and OT and delivered one of many Lakers’ three blocks in OT.
It did not matter. Atlanta outlasted the Lakers in a 134-132 slugfest. Younger was the distinction, delivering 20 assists and scoring 31 factors, together with an 8-for-8 efficiency from the free throw line. He continually bought his teammates wide-open seems, discovering Bogdan Bogdanovic (20 factors) 5 instances and De’Andre Hunter (26 factors) 4 instances for buckets.
It is the third-best single-game help whole within the NBA this season, behind his personal 22-assist efficiency on Nov. 27. Younger has 4 of the six greatest passing performances of 2024-25, and the Hawks had 40 assists for the sport, with Johnson dishing seven dimes and Dyson Daniels getting 5 assists.
However in a sport the place Davis and James gave their all regardless of being injured, the Lakers nonetheless misplaced their third straight sport and their seventh in 9 video games. The red-hot Hawks received their sixth in a row, they usually did it due to Ice Trae.
