LOS ANGELES — Lakers coach JJ Redick acknowledged the seesaw his team has been on when it comes to strong performances on either end of the court.
To start the season, it was the offense carrying the team to success. And then from late November through late December, it was the defense either keeping the Lakers in games or fueling victories.
And lately, it’s been the Lakers’ offense that has picked back up, with the defense taking a step back.
But Redick on Friday made it clear that he maintains his belief that this team can be good on both ends of the court at the same time – and the Lakers rewarded him with one of their most balanced victories of the season, beating the Atlanta Hawks, 119-102, for their seventh win in the past nine games.
LeBron James led the Lakers (20-14) with 30 points (13-of-20 shooting, two of five on 3-pointers), eight assists and three rebounds. Friday was James’ second consecutive 30-point game, and fourth in his last six games, after he scored 38 in Thursday’s victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
With an 18-foot fadeaway jumper over De’Andre Hunter that gave the Lakers a 109-96 lead, James recorded his 563th career 30-point game, breaking his tie with Michael Jordan (562) to become the NBA’s career leader.
Austin Reaves added 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists, with the fourth-year guard continuing to stuff the stat since becoming the team’s primary ball handler.
Anthony Davis had 18 points, 19 rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocked shots after sitting out Thursday night to rest his sprained left ankle. Rui Hachimura and Dalton Knecht each scored 13 points.
Friday was the Lakers’ most balanced victory since beating the San Antonio Spurs on Nov. 27.
“I don’t think we want to make a sort of bet-everything-on-red-type gamble with both roster construction or philosophy around offense versus defense,” Redick said. “You need two-way players. You need guys that are willing to compete on both ends and play intelligent basketball on both ends. They’re hard to find. Our group is trending in that direction of being a good offensive team and a good defensive team. I like where our defense is at right now. Both sides of the ball right now are trending to be a great team.
“Generally speaking, you need to be pretty good at both. Obviously, if you’re elite at one, you can get away with being average [at the other], but very rarely can you get away with being [expletive] at one. So we’re constantly striving to be better on both ends of the ball.”
Trae Young had 33 points and nine assists for the Hawks (18-17), who lost their second straight. Jalen Johnson added 19 points and eight rebounds.
Bronny James played the final 1:41 in his first NBA action since Dec. 8.
More to come on this story.