The Lakers made easy work of the Houston Rockets on Tuesday, ending their two-game series with a 117-100 victory.
While the final score may not seem like a wide margin, it doesn’t tell the whole story, either. Los Angeles held a healthy 25 point lead for most of the night behind huge performances from LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
James, in particular, had himself an outstanding evening. He tallied 26 points, 8, rebounds, and 5 assists against Houston, including an absolute dagger from three in the middle of the 2nd quarter.
LeBron turned around before his 3-pointer went in and stared at the Lakers bench 🤣 pic.twitter.com/LEND9QrRvf
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 13, 2021
Even at this point in the game, the outcome was all but decided and the Lakers were doing whatever they wanted on both ends of the floor. In fact, things were looking so good for the purple and gold that they reportedly found time for some friendly bets.
After the game, James was asked about the three-pointer and what led to the raucous reaction from the bench afterward.
[Dennis] hit me with a bet on the sideline, and I took the bet while I was still shooting the ball. You know, a bet isn’t official until you look a man in the eye, so I had to look him in the eye and I was able to win that one.
When asked what the bet was specifically, LeBron said:
He said ‘bet you won’t make it’… so he said bet it, and so I turned around, looked him in the eye, and said ‘bet’.
As entertaining as the basket itself was, it came nowhere close to the reaction by the Lakers bench afterward. You could see how much fun every player was having and just how strong the bond is between these teammates.
If the Lakers continue to play with this type of intensity and focus, they will continue to be the best team in the NBA for a second consecutive season.
