LeBron James continues to rack up the assists at a rate higher than anyone else in the NBA at a rate we’ve never seen before in his career. As the pregame chatter surrounding him was about him not worrying about resting for the playoffs, he showed that he has plenty to do in the moment by dishing eight assists during a 42-point first quarter for the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night against the New Orleans Pelicans.
As usual this season, Anthony Davis was a force for the Lakers in the period with 12 points and seven rebounds but Danny Green finally had a long-awaited hot-shooting game with 17 points in the first quarter alone. James was able to find both of them for plenty of buckets as the Lakers shot nearly 70 percent in the first quarter and held a 12-point lead.
The Lakers began the second quarter with Davis and LeBron on the bench as they welcome back three members of last year’s team in Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart.
