On March 19, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Lakers challenged the Raptors away. In regular time, the two sides drew 116, and in overtime, the Lakers finally defeated their opponents 128-123 with better performances on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and closed a difficult victory on the road.
Before this game, the Lakers had suffered a wave of three consecutive losses, and had lost a full 11 of their last 14 games, and their last away win was against the Nets on January 26, a full 52 days after today. With consistent losses, the team's record slipped all the way down to ninth in the West, and the playoffs were in jeopardy, so this victory meant a lot for them, a bit of a timely rain.
What is even more rare is that in the case of struggling for more than half a season, James and Westbrook rarely broke out at the same time in this game. The former played 45 minutes, scoring a game-high 36 points on 15-of-26 shooting, in addition to 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks, and in the final quarter, he scored 16 points and 4 rebounds on 7-of-10 shooting to help the team hold on to the score.
Wei Shao slashed a triple-double of 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists on 8-of-18 shooting in the 41 minutes of the game, and in the final moments of the fourth quarter, he completed a ghost hand steal, and then hit a key three-pointer to drag the game into overtime, which can be said to have dragged the team back from the brink of loss by himself.
According to statistics, this is the 10th time that Westbrook has won a triple-double data this season, tying Harden to the third place in the league; in addition, it is also the ninth time in Westbrook's career that he has hit a three-pointer in the fourth quarter or the final moment of overtime, an achievement that has been equal to Kobe Bryant in the past 25 years, ranking second in history, behind Carter (12 times).
For most of the season, Lakers coach Vogel has been wrestling with a question — how to make James and Westbrook coexist, so that both can play more comfortably and efficiently, and I don't know if this victory can provide him with some positive reference.