The Los Angeles Lakers, without their star Anthony Davis, will travel to Washington to face the struggling Wizards on Thursday.
The Lakers saw their four-game winning streak end on Tuesday with a 118-104 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Davis left the game in the first half with an abdominal strain and will be out for at least a week.
Before Tuesday’s game, Davis had been averaging 32.8 points and 15 rebounds in the previous four games, including a 42-point, 23-rebound performance in a win over the Charlotte Hornets.
Los Angeles shot 51.4 percent from the field in the loss but had 22 turnovers on the second night of a back-to-back.
“I’m not sure where our collective brains were at, but I understand the physical fatigue,” said Lakers head coach JJ Redick. “We were a step slow all night. We had bad decision making, poor execution, we were very unorganized throughout the game. You have to look at the big picture, which is that we’re heading in the right direction.”
LeBron James led the Lakers with 31 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds. James is averaging 23.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, and a team-high nine assists per game, behind Davis’ 25.7 points and 11.9 rebounds per game.
The Wizards are having another rough season, following up their worst season in franchise history with a 15-game losing streak. They lost to the Lakers 111-88 on Jan. 21.
Washington lost 106-82 to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday. The Wizards struggled, making only 5 of 30 3-point attempts and committing 27 turnovers.
Jordan Poole, a bright spot for Washington this season, struggled in the loss, scoring only three points on 1-for-9 shooting. Poole is averaging a career-high 20.7 points per game this season.
“You’re going to have tough nights, give credit to Toronto where it’s due,” said Wizards head coach Brian Keefe. “They took him out of his rhythm. Jordan will bounce back. He always does.”
Kyle Kuzma had 19 points and 10 rebounds in the loss, his third double-double of the season and second in the last three games.
The Wizards fell behind 14-0 to start the game, a pattern that has continued throughout their losing streak.
“Starts — we got to be better at for sure,” Keefe said. “That was the tale of this game. … They put their hands on us. They were more physical with us. … We got to start better. That’s something we got to get better at and address right away.”
Kuzma is averaging 14.5 points per game, while Bilal Coulibaly adds 12.3 points. The Wizards have not beaten the Lakers since March 2022, losing five straight in the series.
