The Lakers have 14 games left and are surging up the Western Conference standings<\/a>. With six consecutive wins and nine in their last 10, the Lakers (43-25) are third in the West and suddenly have a 1.5-game lead on fourth-place Houston.<\/p>\n The team that couldn\u2019t beat anyone good suddenly has statement wins over four teams with .600 records. The turnaround from fighting to stay out of the play-in to now being in position for homecourt advantage left even JJ Redick struggling to find the right description.<\/p>\n \u201cIs coalesce a word?\u201d Redick said after the Lakers outlasted the Denver Nugget in overtime on Saturday. \u201cIs that the right word? For coming together? Jelling? I think it feels like we\u2019re coalescing right now in a really nice way.\u201d<\/p>\n Get all the Lakers news you need in Thuc Nhi Nguyen’s weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The defining moment of LeBron James\u2019 performance during the Lakers\u2019 game of the season officially went down as a turnover.<\/p>\n His Superman dive to save a loose ball with 54.3 seconds left in regulation against Denver on Saturday turned into one of James\u2019 five turnovers because the Lakers did not corral the jump ball. But the statistical and physical sacrifice of the play showed the type of role James will play on this team coming down the stretch of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a great example of leadership,\u201d Redick said. \u201cLeadership is not just the voice who\u2019s talking. Leadership is then what you do on the court, and if you want to be a winning team then you need guys who are willing to take the lead and make winning plays.\u201d<\/p>\n With Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves starring, Redick acknowledged that \u201cthe best thing for our team is [James] being the third highest-used player.\u201d Since returning from hip and elbow injuries that kept him out of three games, James has had the third-highest usage rate on the team in each of the last three games. All were wins.<\/p>\n Redick acknowledged that \u201cfinding the groove\u201d between James, Doncic and Reaves has been \u201cthe challenge for all of them, not just LeBron, all season.\u201d It was more difficult because alternating injuries limited the trio\u2019s time together on the court.<\/p>\n The season-long advanced metrics have favored having just Doncic and Reaves on the court, who have a plus-eight net rating together, as opposed to all three (plus-3.2 net rating). But the modest rating of the Doncic, Reaves and James combination has taken dramatic leaps this week alone.<\/p>\n James, Doncic and Reaves outscored opponents by 32.7 points per 100 possessions in wins against the Bulls and Nuggets.<\/p>\n The Lakers have gotten their \u201cbest win of the season\u201d four times in the last nine days. Two were without James when the Lakers blew out the Knicks and the Timberwolves. He returned and the wins got grittier: an overtime thriller against Denver and Monday\u2019s tense victory in Houston.<\/p>\n Other teammates made the flashy, standout plays. Doncic nailed the game-winning basket in overtime against Denver, and Reaves forced extra time with a one-in-a-hundred intentionally missed free throw. Deandre Ayton had four consecutive points late in the fourth quarter against Houston that put the Rockets away.<\/p>\n The NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer, meanwhile, has been a relatively quiet seven-for-13 from the field in each of the last three games, scoring no more than 18 points. He doesn\u2019t mind as long as it adds up to wins. <\/p>\n \u201cIf it benefits others, it benefits the team,\u201d James said last week. \u201cThe team is most important.\u201d<\/p>\n It won\u2019t count in the stat sheet, but watching James fly across the floor at 41 years old against Denver was \u201cone of the biggest plays of the game,\u201d Reaves said Saturday. Redick joked that after 23 NBA seasons and three years of high school he had never seen James lay out for a loose ball like that.<\/p>\n Because he never had, James replied.<\/p>\n And after sharing a photo on social media of a bright red court burn the size of a nickel, James might never do it again.<\/p>\n \u201cMight be it for diving for the year!\u201d James wrote in an Instagram story showing the wound. \u201cOuch! Lol!\u201d<\/p>\n (Ethan Swope \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n Nearly 10 years before teaming up for the Lakers, Rui Hachimura and Deandre Ayton were just teenaged prospects with big dreams. They first met at a Basketball without Borders camp in 2016. The roster that year also included future NBA champions Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Isaiah Hartenstein. Hachimura recalled Ayton dominating everyone. Then the 7-foot center from the Bahamas inexplicably disappeared.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what I remember,\u201d Hachimura said with a smile remembering his first impression of his future Lakers teammate. \u201cI was like, \u2018Where\u2019s this guy going?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n When Hachimura shared that anecdote in October, it was an unintentionally fitting description of Ayton\u2019s career. Over the last eight years, the former No. 1 pick has dominated and disappeared in equal measure.<\/p>\n Just in time for the Lakers\u2019 biggest games of the year, the enigmatic center returned to his \u201cDominAyton\u201d mode.<\/p>\n Ayton averaged 13 points and 9.8 rebounds per game in wins over the Knicks, Timberwolves, Bulls and Nuggets after coming back from a one-game injury absence. When Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber were sidelined for games against Minnesota and Chicago, Ayton starred with back-to-back double-doubles.<\/p>\n \u201cFelt like I picked up my energy and my focus,\u201d Ayton said. \u201cI finally caught up with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the surest signs of Ayton\u2019s engagement is his activity on the boards. The Lakers are 29-7 when Ayton has eight or more rebounds and 8-14 when he has seven or fewer. Lately he has been especially clutch with three rebounds and four points in overtime against Denver and five rebounds with six points in the fourth quarter against Houston when the Lakers finished the game on a 13-4 run.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is an X factor for us, if not the X Factor,\u201d Redick said after Ayton scored 23 points with 10 rebounds against the Bulls, \u201cbecause him playing at a high level raises our ceiling. It changes the makeup of our team.\u201d<\/p>\n Ayton had his son Deandre Ayton Jr. in the locker room after that performance against the Bulls. The five-year-old bounced a white rubber ball on the ground while waiting for his dad to finish showering then joined him at his locker for his media obligations. After the game when the Lakers celebrated \u201cGirl Dad Night,\u201d this proud boy dad left a lasting impression.<\/p>\n \u201cTruly a blessing,\u201d Ayton said of having his son join him at the game, \u201cespecially being a Laker. Just hope he [is] inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n Wednesday at Rockets (41-26), 6:30 p.m. <\/b><\/p>\n This game will decide the head-to-head tiebreaker between Houston and L.A. In the tight conference race, the Lakers already own head-to-head tiebreakers against Denver and Minnesota, but not against Phoenix, which is lurking in the seventh spot with a 39-29 record, four games behind the Lakers.<\/p>\n Thursday at Heat (38-30), 5 p.m. <\/b><\/p>\n The Heat were one of the hottest teams in the East before losing to the Orlando Magic on Saturday in Norman Powell\u2019s return from injury. Powell came off the bench after missing seven games because of a groin injury and scored 20 points. The Heat were 7-0 during the stretch without Powell, even playing without Tyler Herro for two games.<\/p>\n Saturday at Magic (38-29), 4 p.m. <\/b><\/p>\n The Magic\u2019s seven-game winning streak came to an end Monday in Atlanta. Franz Wagner (ankle) has played in just four games since Dec. 7, and Paolo Banchero is averaging 24.8 points on 51.4% shooting, 9.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists during the month of March.<\/p>\n Monday at Detroit (48-19), 4 p.m. <\/b><\/p>\n The Pistons are cruising toward the top seed in the East. Cade Cunningham has continued his breakthrough year with 24.9 points and 10.1 assists per game.<\/p>\n Maxi Kleber (lumbar back strain) <\/b><\/p>\n The backup big man has missed four games because of a back injury that started earlier this season and recently flared up against. Kleber has good days and bad days, Redick said, and has been shut down for five days. He did not travel to Houston for the beginning of the six-game trip, but the Lakers hope he can join.<\/p>\n Korean short ribs (galbi) with rice and Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon radish.<\/p>\n (Thuc Nhi Nguyen \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n Made possible only through teamwork with my favorite coworker Brad Turner, I did the impossible: I had two uninterrupted weeks at home during the NBA season. After coming home from a month overseas, I needed that time to settle back into my normal life, including my kitchen. I missed it. We kept it low-key for the homecoming with Korean short ribs (galbi) with rice and Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon radish. Green onions for garnish because my mom would never let a dish touch the table if it wasn\u2019t garnished. <\/p>\n Lakers surge late and defeat Rockets for their sixth consecutive win<\/a><\/p>\n How Austin Reaves pulled off a perfect game-tying missed free throw in Lakers\u2019 win<\/a><\/p>\n LeBron James\u2019 adaptability a key in victory over the Bulls<\/a><\/p>\n The Lakers turn a big liability into an asset, using strong defense to beat Minnesota<\/a><\/p>\n Swanson: Booooo! Bam Adebayo was \u2018cheating the game\u2019 in surpassing Kobe Bryant\u2019s 81-point effort<\/a><\/p>\n As always, pass along your thoughts to me at thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com<\/u><\/a>, and please consider subscribing<\/a> if you like our work!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Welcome back to this week\u2019s Lakers newsletter, where we are fully scoreboard watching. The Lakers have 14 games left and are surging up the Western Conference standings. With six consecutive wins and nine in their last 10, the Lakers (43-25) are third in the West and suddenly have a 1.5-game lead on fourth-place Houston. The … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Are-the-Lakers-the-hottest-team-in-the-NBA.com2Fd42F932F0f54815f4f019539018b5aa0.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24395"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24397,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24395\/revisions\/24397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}All things Lakers, all the time. <\/h3>\n<\/header>\n
Lakers\u2019 \u2018Big Three\u2019 finds its pecking order<\/h2>\n
Deandre Ayton arrives just in time<\/h2>\n
On tap<\/h2>\n
Status report<\/h2>\n
Favorite thing I ate this week<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
In case you missed it<\/h2>\n
Until next time…<\/h2>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"