CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Lakers were perfect, Anthony Davis dominating everywhere on the basketball court while the scoreboard ticked up in their favor on nearly every possession. The Lakers’ energy was off the charts, the team in complete control as it flew around and forced turnovers and missed shots. The offense was in perfect sync as it found either Davis or someone else wide open for layups and dunks.
It was a team at its peak. But it lasted just 12 minutes.
Nearly as quickly as the Lakers sprinted to the top of their powers Monday in Charlotte, they plummeted to their depths, a 23-point first-quarter lead dwindling all the way down to two in the fourth. Still, even without any real momentum for the last three quarters, the Lakers managed to escape with a 112-107 win in a game where they never trailed.
Davis finished with 42 points and 23 rebounds. His first quarter was a historic level of domination. He made his first seven shots and scored 21 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. No player in the last 28 years (as far back as Stathead.com quarter data goes) opened a game with 21 points and 11 rebounds in the first quarter.
“He had it all going,” LeBron James said.
The 21 points and 11 rebounds were more than the entire Hornets team had in the first quarter.
“That’s an impressive game. Start off by saying that,” Austin Reaves said. “But that might be the most impressive quarter of basketball I’ve ever seen an individual play. I felt like we almost could have went and sat down and watched him do what he does.”
They kinda did.
Charlotte, like Lakers coach JJ Redick predicted before the game, started launching three-pointers after the Lakers shut down the paint. LaMelo Ball’s second three early in the second quarter cut the lead to 16, but he rolled his ankle while backpedaling down the court. He left the game and didn’t return, playing only nine minutes.
The Hornets, though, stayed hot from deep while the Lakers’ execution on both ends of the court cratered. James badly airballed a three to end one possession. Davis was forced to shoot off of one knee from 19 feet away to end another.
Charlotte (12-31) cut the lead to eight by halftime, aided by seven Lakers turnovers in the second quarter alone. Luckily, Davis kept dominating.
“I was just feeling good,” Davis said.
The Lakers (26-18) never fully regained their rhythm, only briefly sparking in the second half while leaving the game grateful that they had built such a large cushion early.
“We played hard for four quarters. Now it was not pretty, but we played hard for four quarters,” Redick said. “I think for me, we made a lot of mental errors tonight. And look, I don’t know if that’s coming off Saturday and the long flight yesterday and getting acclimated to East Coast time. Felt a little bit of brain fog, less so than just like guys not playing. Guys played hard tonight and guys were connected tonight. We just had a lot of mental errors.”
The Lakers turned the ball over 19 times for 28 Charlotte points. They allowed the Hornets to make eight more threes than they did. But even when Charlotte got within a possession, the Lakers always recovered.
“We didn’t come here to try to blow nobody out,” James said. “We came here to win the game. And we played hard from start to finish.”
Jarred Vanderbilt, playing his second game this season, had a key steal and dunk in the fourth. Max Christie, who had gotten crossed up with James on an earlier fourth-quarter possession, had a four-point play in front of the Charlotte bench.
And Dorian Finney-Smith punctuated the game with a monster dunk over Charlotte’s Miles Bridges.
“That’s going on the ‘Gram,” Davis said.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
