LOS ANGELES — Russell Westbrook bounced back from his nine-turnover outing on Sunday by committing zero miscues in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 122-114 win over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, the first time the point guard protected the ball that well in nearly six years.
Westbrook snapped a personal streak of 407 straight games with a turnover, dating back to March 14, 2016, when he played for the Oklahoma City Thunder. And the Lakers followed suit when it came to ball security. L.A. had a season-low five turnovers as a team against Sacramento, the fewest the franchise has posted in a game since 2014, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.
“It shows that when we put our mind to it we can do it as a team,” said Westbrook, who finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and a game-high plus-minus of plus-17 in 34 minutes.
LeBron James, who tallied 31 points, five rebounds and five assists to top 30 points for the eighth time in L.A.’s past nine games since Anthony Davis suffered a sprained MCL in his left knee, said the Lakers’ management of their miscues was the difference-maker.
“Well, that’s the reason we won the game,” James said. “We won the game because we did not turn the ball over tonight. And when we get shots at the goal, we can be very dangerous. And we weren’t shooting the ball well at all, and because we didn’t turn the ball over, we caught fire. We caught fire, because we got shots at the goal and we didn’t turn the ball over.”
The Kings actually had a more efficient offensive night shooting the ball, hitting 51.8% from the field cas ompared to 49.5% for the Lakers — including 41.2% from 3 as compared to 34.4% for L.A. — but the Lakers had plenty more possessions and thus more opportunities to score.
“We shot the ball 99 times; they only shot it 83 [times],” Westbrook said. “We like that better than turning the ball over.”
The Kings turned the ball over 18 times, leading to 21 points for the Lakers. By taking care of the ball, L.A. was…
Source : espn
