The Los Angeles Lakers lost their Christmas Day game against the Brooklyn Nets by a rather narrow margin even though the gap was 20 points going into the fourth quarter.
LeBron James had a massive game with 39 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists in 40 minutes of play. He missed help from his co-superstar Russell Westbrook, who had 13 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.
Despite the loss, Lakers backup coach David Fizdale praised his players for the way they managed to come back to the game and reducing large deficits.
“Incredible efforts being made,” Fizdale said. “One, defensively to guard James Harden, I mean good grief they do so much different stuff to loosen him up. Credit to Russ, Talen and Stanley Johnson just for fighting the way they did. Stanley Johnson was fantastic on him. For a guy just getting moved up that’s pretty big time.
“It’s just a tale of quarters. We give up 38, then we come back and score 39, we give up 36 and go back and score 33. We couldn’t put consecutive quarters for whatever reason. I got go back and watch the film and figure it out.”
