L.A. gets no credit for a big charge
Lakers rally from a 19-point deficit before the Wizards pull away. D5
WASHINGTON — Lou Williams stole the ball and rushed up the court on a fastbreak. He saw Larry Nance Jr. approaching the basket and threw a lob to the forward, who finished the play with a one-handed dunk.
It was one highlight in a fourthquarter stretch during which the Lakers erased a 19-point deficit and tied the score against the Wizards. That turned out to be just a spurt. The Wizards beat the Lakers, 116-108.
With the loss, the Lakers fell to 17-35 while the Wizards improved to 29-20, having won 16 consecutive games at home.
Three Wizards players — Bradley Beal, John Wall and Marcin Gortat — each eclipsed 20 points. Wall was the game’s high scorer with 31 points.
Two days after his first 10-assist game, Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell had another. Russell finished with 17 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds and seven turnovers. Tarik Black, who started at power forward for Julius Randle, also had a double-double with 13 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
Jordan Clarkson led the Lakers with 20 points on nine-for-13 shooting and Luol Deng added 17 points.
Nance’s alley-oop dunk brought the Lakers to within four of the Wizards, and they later went on to tie the score, 91-91. Threatened at home, the Wizards then showed why they were the Eastern Conference’s best team in January. Led by their All-Star point guard, Washington went on a 10-2 run, eight of those points by Wall.
The Lakers committed 15 firsthalf turnovers, nine of them in the second quarter. Russell committed five of those first-half miscues. The Wizards scored 17 points off turnovers.
The game was the first in a fivegame trip that will last 10 days for the Lakers as Staples Center prepares to host the Grammy Awards, on Feb. 12. They travel to Boston next to play the Celtics on Friday.
The New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks are also on the schedule during this trip.
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Lakers guard Nick Young was selected for the three-point-shooting contest during the NBA’s AllStar weekend. Young will compete against defending three-point champion Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors along with Rockets guard Eric Gordon, Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving, Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, Mavericks guard Wesley Matthews, Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum and Hornets guard Kemba Walker. … Randle was cleared to play for Thursday’s game after recovering from pneumonia. Having not practiced since being diagnosed with the illness last week, Randle did not start and played only six minutes in the game.