The only thing worse than barely winning one of the ugliest basketball games the Lakers have played in years is barely losing one of the ugliest basketball games the Lakers have played in years. 

The Lakers used 38 points from Austin Reaves (13-23 from the floor) and 29 from LeBron James (plus eight rebounds, seven dimes) to squeak past the Brooklyn Nets at the Crypt, 102-101. On a night where Anthony Davis was unavailable thanks to a flare up of his plantar fasciitis and Dorian Finney-Smith was still away from the team celebrating the birth of his son, it felt like the Lakers might struggle to keep the offense humming. 

And man, did they ever struggle. 

The Lakers managed to get enough defense (against a VERY shorthanded Nets team) though it's hard to know how much of that was good defense vs. a bad Brooklyn roster, and even then the Nets still managed to get hot and hit a bunch of timely 3's. 

So in the end, it's a win that will absolutely not inspire even the slightest amount of confidence, but it's a win. It gets the Lakers to 22-17, and back up to a 6-seed with a game against the Clippers coming up Sunday. 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

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