For one night, the world got a glimpse of what the Lakers can be, a 48-minute taste of what’s possible. Yes, Tuesday’s 106–96 win came against the Zombie Nets, who were without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who cycled through 11 players in the first half searching for the right lineups (sorry, Blake Griffin) and needed a 33-point night from James Harden just to stay competitive.
Would L.A. have beaten Brooklyn at full strength? Who knows, but this was the best version of the Lakers we’ve seen in a while.
This Lakers team had Anthony Davis, the injury-prone big man who had missed the last 17 games with a sprained MCL in his left knee.