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The Los Angeles Lakers came out hot against the Brooklyn Nets and handled their business in a 124-112 victory. D’Angelo Russell’s return to STAPLES Center came and went, with the purple and gold notching their fourth victory of the season as they inch closer to the .500 mark.
All eyes were on Russell to have a “revenge” game, but it was Brook Lopez who did the most damage against his former team. Lopez had his best game as a Laker with his old team on the other end, scoring a game-high 34 points. He was lights out from deep going a nice 6-of-9 from outside, grabbed 10 boards for a double-double, and gave the Nets a reminder of what they gave up in the Russell trade.
D’Angelo, meanwhile, had a solid all-around game by the numbers. 17 points (8-of-24), seven assists, seven rebounds, three steals and four turnovers were tallied in the box score for the former Laker. In the other corner, Lonzo Ball didn’t shy way from being more aggressive after attempting just two shots and coming up scoreless against Portland. Unfortunately he went 3-of-15 for six points, but did have seven assists, five rebounds and two steals.
The Lakers led by as many as 16 points but let Brooklyn slowly crawl back in, cutting the lead down to four in the final minutes of the fourth. The purple and gold gutted it out, though, and walked away with a win in the second-half of a back-to-back.
Kyle Kuzma had a fantastic first game as a starter, scoring 21 points with a game-high 13 rebounds for a double-double of his own. Most of his work came in the first half, where he was spinning around defenders on his way to the paint for buckets. Brandon Ingram gave the Lakers a trio of double-doubles, adding in 18 points and 10 rebounds.
This was a solid win by the Lakers, who looked a cut above Brooklyn for the majority of the night. They’ll get to bask in the glory of their win while remaining in Los Angeles over the weekend, awaiting the arrival of the Memphis Grizzlies for a Sunday showdown.