Lakers roll as James passes MJ for most career 30-point games

LAKERS NOTES

The Lakers’ LeBron James (23) drives past the Hawks’ Bogdan Bogdanovic (13) during the first half Friday night. James scored 30 points, passing Michael Jordan for most career 30-point games with 563, in the Lakers’ win at Crypto.com Arena. Mark J. Terrill / ap

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By Khobi Price

kprice@scng.com

LOS ANGELES — Lakers coach JJ Redick acknowledged the seesaw his team has been through when it comes to strong performances on either end of the floor.

To start the season, it was the offense carrying the team to success. And then from late November-late December, it was the defense either keeping them in games or winning them for the Lakers.

And lately, it’s been the Lakers offense that’s picked up, with the defense taking a step back.

But Redick on Friday made it clear that he maintains his belief that the Lakers can be good on both ends of the floor — and his team rewarded him with one of their most balanced victories of the season, beating the Atlanta Hawks 119-102 at Crypto.com Arena.

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 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

With a 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) for the most 30-point games by a player in league history.

Austin Reaves added 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists, with the fourth-year guard continuing to stuff the stat sheet since becoming the team’s primary ball handler.

Anthony Davis recorded 18 points, 19 rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocked shots. 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.”

The Hawks (18-17) were led by Trae Young’s 33 points and nine assists. Jalen Johnson added 19 points and eight rebounds.

INJURY OPTIMISM

Redick said there was “optimism” for guard Gabe Vincent to be available during their upcoming Texas road trip after Vincent missed his third consecutive game because of a strained left oblique, which he suffered early in last Saturday’s home win against the Kings.

The Lakers play at the Houston Rockets on Sunday and then visit the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.