The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night with an incredible 19-point comeback, improving their record to 40-32 overall. On a night when star LeBron James was sidelined while the team monitored his ankle injury, they were led by the quartet of Anthony Davis (34 points, 23 rebounds, four blocks), Austin Reaves (29 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists), and D’Angelo Russell (29 points, 12 assists).
While each player’s performance stood out, as a team they accomplished an NBA achievement that had almost never been done before. For the first time in more than 50 years, three players on the same team have combined for 90/40/20 points, 44 rebounds, and 24 assists in a single game. Russell, Davis, and Reaves finished with 92 points, 44 rebounds, and 24 assists.
The previous trio? Another set of Lakers in Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Happy Hairston, who did so on January 24, 1971, as OptaStats revealed.
As they detailed, the trio of Chamberlain, West and Hairston totaled 95 points, 43 rebounds and 22 assists in that game.
It was a stellar showing from the Lakers’ three key starters, as only four total Lakers scored in double figures, with Rui Hachimura chipping in 16 points and 14 rebounds. Darvin Ham’s squad found itself down by 16 after the first quarter and were unable to chip away at that lead going into the half.
However, they came back and used a 16-2 run in the fourth quarter to keep the game within reach despite trailing by 19 points in the last quarter. With 3:26 left, the Lakers were down by double digits once more, 101-91, but they rallied to tie the game at 101 and force overtime. The Lakers won 128-124 on the opening leg of a crucial six-game road trip during the last stretch of the regular season, even though it required two overtimes for them to overturn the deficit permanently.
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