3:13 AM
The Los Angeles Lakers' point guard rebounded from his nine-turnover outing on Sunday by committing zero turnovers in the team's 122-114 win over the Kings on Tuesday.
The personal streak of 407 games with a turnover was snapped by Russell Westbrook when he was with the Oklahoma City Thunder. When it came to ball security, the Lakers followed suit. The L.A. team had a season-low five turnovers against the Kings, the lowest number of turnovers in a game for the franchise since 2014, according to research.
"It shows that we can do it as a team, and that we can do it when we put our mind to it," said the Oklahoma City point guard, who finished with 19 points, seven rebound and a game-high plus-minus of plus 17 in 34 minutes.
The Lakers' management of their mistakes was the difference-maker, as evidenced by the fact that they've scored over 100 points in eight of their past nine games.
James said that was the reason they won the game. We won the game because we didn't turn the ball over. We can be very dangerous if we get shots at the goal. We caught fire because we didn't turn the ball over and we weren't shooting the ball well. We caught fire because we got shots at the goal and didn't turn the ball over.
The Lakers had plenty of possessions and thus more opportunities to score, but the Kings had a more efficient offensive night shooting the ball, hitting 51.8% from the field as compared to 49.5% for the Lakers.
"We shot the ball 99 times; they only shot 83 times," he said. "We like that more than turning the ball over."
The Lakers scored 21 points because of the 18 turnovers by the Kings. L.A. was able to set its defense and hold the Kings to just six fast-break points, well below their average of 12.6 fast-break points per game.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel said live ball turnovers kill you. They're what Phil Jackson used to call them. There are mistakes. It hurts both sides.
After his nine turnovers in a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, he was defiant.
I'm allowed to miss. I can do that. He said that he can do that like any other player. I can also turn the ball over. I can do that.
After the Wolves game, Vogel said that Westbrook was playing well. The Lakers have won three in a row and four in a row to pull within a point of the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks. The teams are five games behind the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference.
Russ is really invested in this team. He's not perfect, but he really cares and he wants to do the right thing. I was really proud of the bounce-back performance after I had a high turnover night the last game and came out and had zero turnovers tonight. I challenge our team, not just Russ, but I challenge our team to be better with ball security, because that's a great exhibit of ball security. It was a big part of the win.
