WASHINGTON — No Anthony Davis, no problem for the Lakers on Thursday night.
Because even without their All-Star big man, the Lakers had advantages across the board against a Washington Wizards team that’s contending to be one of the worst teams in NBA history.
And Coach JJ Redick’s message was simple with his team prepared to be without Davis for at least the next week because of an abdominal injury: “Just stay within your role. It’s all we’re asking you to do.”
The message was well received, with Thursday being one of the least stressful victories this season for the Lakers, who blew out the Wizards, 134-96, at Capital One Arena to move to 3-1 on their ongoing “Grammy” road trip.
The Lakers (27-19) will close out the non-Southern California portion of the trip with a prime-time game against the New York Knicks on Saturday at Madison Square Garden before playing the Clippers on Tuesday at Intuit Dome.
“I asked the guys to play with an edge,” said Redick, whose team made it five wins in six games with its most lopsided win of the season. “I thought they did that. We were the instigators. Did not intend for some of that edge to be taken out on the officials by a couple of our guys. I like that we were angry. We played angry. Overall, just execution was great. And then, it’s a big deal when three of your top seven guys are out of the lineup and you can bring guys in that haven’t necessarily been in the rotation and they make a big impact. Guys should be proud of their effort and execution.”
LeBron James led the way with 24 points and 11 assists and no turnovers in just 27 minutes, getting a chance to sit out the entire fourth quarter.
“Don’t overlook the fact, by the way, that he’s 40 years old in Year 22 with every accolade under the sun and he comes out on a Thursday night that’s a non-nationally televised game against a team that’s really struggling and he is the tone-setter,” Redick said. “It’s again, competitive stamina. It’s impressive.”
James was one of seven Lakers who scored in double figures.
Rui Hachimura scored 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting (4 for 4 from 3-point range) against his former team.
Shake Milton had his best game since the Lakers acquired him in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets last month, finishing with 21 points, four assists, four rebounds and two steals.
“A lot of it is just mental,” Milton said of staying ready. “The mental game, that’s when that comes into play. It’s when you just start in a different situation, a different environment and you have to, move and run on the fly. It’s just taking that time to mentally prepare regardless of the result you’re seeing and staying locked in and staying in that mind frame. That helps a lot.”
Milton, who has mostly struggled as a Laker, was in the rotation in light of Gabe Vincent missing his third consecutive game because of a bruised left knee that he suffered at the start of the trip in Saturday’s victory over the Golden State Warriors.
Austin Reaves added 17 points, six rebounds and five assists. Jaxson Hayes, who started in place of Davis, recorded a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double to go with three blocked shots in 24 minutes.
Max Christie also had 13 points and was a significant reason why Wizards guard Jordan Poole (19 points on 5-of-15 shooting) struggled offensively. Rookie Dalton Knecht added 10 points and Jarred Vanderbilt had four points, seven rebounds and four steals in 16 minutes as he continues to work his way back from surgeries on both feet.
The outcome of Thursday’s game was never in doubt.
The Lakers led by 13 (42-29) at the end of the first quarter, by 33 (78-45) at halftime, by 35 (105-70) at the end of the third quarter and by as many as 42 (117-75) in the fourth after being blown out by the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.
“Coming back into a game like this, kind of a must-win game for us for our spirit and our morale so we wanted to come with a lot of fire, a lot of intensity,” Christie said. “JJ made a point for us to play with an edge at the beginning of the game, so I thought we did a good job of that.”
The Wizards (6-41) lost their 16th consecutive game – their second losing streak of at least 16 games this season. Their winning percentage is the fifth-worst in league history.
While James sat out, his son Bronny played the whole fourth quarter and scored a career-high five points – a development that delighted the crowd (which had been chanting for him well before he finally went in).
Bronny scored the second basket of his brief NBA career with an and-one layup over Wizards second-year big man Tristan Vukcevic, driving to the rim and finishing through contact with a right-handed finish on the left side of the basket with just under three minutes left in the game.
The players on the Lakers’ bench went into a frenzy after Bronny finished at the rim, with Hachimura putting LeBron in a celebratory headlock.
“He cares so much,” Hachimura said. “I’ve been working out with him, two years, three years, whatever, in the summer, when he was going through the struggle with his physical, you know, I was with him. I knew he wanted this so bad. Every time he get in, every time he was going to get in, he always talked to him, ‘just do you, do you, just be aggressive’ and all that. So I knew he wanted that so bad.
“As soon as he scored it, he was trying to hold it in a little bit. So that’s why I was like, ‘come on, bro.’ It should be, it should be. But he’s my big brother. So of course I was happy about it. It was a great moment for sure.”
With the Lakers up by 39 and 1:25 remaining, Knecht was called for two technical fouls – apparently for arguing – and ejected.