Lakers beat Hornets to crawl over .500

Without LeBron the Lakers manged to eke out a 126-123 victory against the Hornets on Monday in overtime, setting the team’s record to 6-5 in the season. LA players stepping up to the plate, especially Carmelo Anthony, is what helped the Lakers grab a W at home. Melo went all beast with 29 points for the night, clocking in seven 3-pointers in the process. Anthony Davis went for 32 points for the night and 12 rebounds. But Westbrook was a drag on the Lakers with seven turnovers and only 5 out of 15.

LaMelo Ball was close to a triple-double, but came out short, 25 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists, and ws the instrumental force in the Hornets late game comeback. The Lakers had a comfortable 11-point lead in the last five minutes, but Ball and company managed to turn around and tie the game with 23 seconds to spare, thanks to a 3-pointer from Miles Bridges.

Despite winning by the seat of their pants on Monday, the future is not all peach for the Lakers. LeBron James is still out indefinitely with abdominal strain. He did some light training on Monday before the game, but no word is out yet on a possible return. Meanwhile AD played against the Hornets with a thumb injury and is suffering an undisclosed illness, to boot. It seems that at this point in time, all Lakers hopes are riding on their bench, which indeed stepped up against the Hornets, but the team remains barely above the .500 mark.