Over the last few weeks, the Los Angeles Lakers have been struggling to string together the necessary wins that would get them into a playoff spot. It's been a rough patch for the team that at one point this season, was ranked fourth in the Western Conference. Since returning from injury, LeBron James hasn't looked the same and neither has Rajon Rondo. Last night though, both player came alive as the Lakers defeated the New Orleans Pelicans 125-119. LeBron dropped 33 points, while Rondo added 11 points and 16 assists. According to ESPN, it was a conversation between Rondo and head coach Luke Walton that helped spark up the squad.
"It was an honest conversation," Walton said according to ESPN. "It was healthy and positive." As the report states, the conversation was only between Walton and Rondo and lasted a fairly long time.
Meanwhile, Rondo joked that his poor play as of late was the result of some back pain from "[sleeping on a bad bed in Jamaica."
As for the game itself, James was happy with the win, saying: "We were able to get pace. We had 19 fast-break points. We had 37 assists. Between me and 'Do, we had 26 assists and [the team] only had eight turnovers. Obviously that ratio was ridiculous. That's some Golden State s--- right there. ... By us not turning the ball over, it allowed us to set our half-court defense and we looked pretty damn good."
The Lakers now sit at a record of 30-31 and are ranked 10th in the Western Conference. They are three games out of a playoff spot with 21 matches left to go.