The Los Angeles Lakers played spoiler with a 129-115 win over the playoff hopeful Charlotte Hornets Friday at Staples Center.
It was a balanced scoring effort for the Lakers on Friday with four players ending the night in double figures, but it was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope that led the way for Los Angeles. In 29 minutes, KCP scored 25 points on 8-14 shooting from the field, including 6-10 shooting from behind the 3-point line. He also contributed four assists and a steal.
Caldwell-Pope has been an inconsistent shooter for most of the season, but he’s been on fire as of late. Going into Friday nights game, he was shooting 41.7 percent from 3-point land on 9.6 attempts per game. That number will get a nice little boost with the 60 percent he shot from behind the arc against Charlotte.
The two-man pairing of LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma also got things done on the offensive end, combining for 47 points. James, who led the team with 27 points on 11-19 shooting from the field also contributed nine assists. On most nights, that would be the team-high, but Rajon Rondo was dropping dimes on Friday, dishing out a game-high 17 assists to go along with seven points, six rebounds and five steals. It was a great night from the starters.
Last, but not least, Lance Stephenson tallied 14 points off of the bench. Johnathan Williams wasn’t too far behind with 13 points.
The Lakers will be back at it on Sunday to take on (maybe) Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans in a game that is set up to have serious NBA Draft Lottery implications. We’ll see you then.