LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James hit eight 3-pointers while scoring 36 points, Anthony Davis had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Lakers surged into the postseason as the seventh seed in the Western Conference with a 128-117 victory over the Utah Jazz on Sunday.
About 30 minutes after the streamers fell from the rafters on the Lakers’ regular-season finale, Los Angeles (43-39) learned it will host Minnesota (42-40) in a play-in game on Tuesday night.
“It’s different, because usually in the postseason, we have multiple days to prep for a team,” James said before the first play-in game of his 20-year NBA career. “We literally have one day to prep. ... For us, it’s good that we don’t have to travel. It’s good that we get to stay here, but we shouldn’t be comfortable. We need to stay on edge and get ready for the game.”
D’Angelo Russell had 17 points for the Lakers, who won nine of their last 11 games and went 18-9 after revamping their roster at the trade deadline. Los Angeles was six games under .500 as recently as Feb. 13 before finding its groove with the new players led by Russell, defense-minded starter Jarred Vanderbilt and outside shooter Malik Beasley.
Russell will be facing the Timberwolves for the second time since they traded him at the deadline.
“Not the fact that they traded me has anything to do with it, but the fact they’re in the way of what we’re trying to get done, that’s all that really matters to me,” Russell said.
The Lakers never pulled away from the Jazz, who stayed within one possession down the stretch despite resting several key players. James hit his sixth 3-pointer with 3:32 to play and added his seventh with 1:07 left before burying the eighth with 39 seconds to play, finishing one shy of his single-game high in 3′s.