NBA: Lakers pull out OT win, extend Wizards’ skid
Published March 1, 2024 2:42pm Anthony Davis scored 40 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and LeBron James added 31 points for the Los Angeles Lakers, who needed overtime to get past the visiting Washington Wizards 134-131 on Thursday. D’Angelo Russell scored 22 points and Austin Reaves had 12 as the Lakers shook off the pesky […]
Tomas Kauer - News Moderator 
Anthony Davis scored 40 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and LeBron James added 31 points for the Los Angeles Lakers, who needed overtime to get past the visiting Washington Wizards 134-131 on Thursday.
D’Angelo Russell scored 22 points and Austin Reaves had 12 as the Lakers shook off the pesky Wizards. A day earlier, the Lakers rallied from a 21-point, fourth-quarter deficit to get past the Los Angeles Clippers.
James, who also had nine assists, is now nine points away from becoming the first player in NBA history to reach the 40,000 mark.
The game turned in the extra period when James blocked Jordan Poole’s attempted fastbreak dunk and then hit a 3-pointer on the other end to tie the game 131-all with 3:12 left. Davis followed with a dunk to put Los Angeles on top with 2:30 remaining.
James made 1 of 2 foul shots with 1:28 to go, and Poole and teammate Kyle Kuzma missed 3-point attempts that would have tied the game in the final minute.
The Lakers went 9-3 in February after starting the month with a road victory over the league-leading Boston Celtics.
Poole scored 20 of his 34 points in the first half, but the Wizards could not avoid their 13th consecutive defeat. Marvin Bagley III scored 23 points and Corey Kispert and Kuzma each added 20 for Washington. Deni Avdija recorded 15 points and 15 rebounds, and Kuzma had 10 rebounds.
Poole has averaged 23.2 points in five games since moving to the bench after he averaged 9.3 points over his last six starts.
Washington went 0-12 in February and lost for the 19th time in its past 21 games.
The Wizards led by as many as five points in the third quarter before the Lakers took a 99-95 lead into the fourth.
The Wizards pulled even at 118-118 with 4:25 remaining on four points from Tyus Jones — a 3-pointer and a made free throw when Lakers coach Darvin Ham was assessed a technical foul. That sequence capped a 10-2 Washington run.
The Wizards went up 126-124 on a Poole 3-pointer with 43.7 seconds remaining before the Lakers tied it on a Reaves drive and bank shot with 24 seconds left. Poole missed what would have been a game-winning 3-pointer at the regulation buzzer.
–Field Level Media/Reuters
