After a 2-10 start, LeBron James pitches the Lakers to finish above .500

LOS ANGELES — The Lakers’ 121-107 win over the undermanned Phoenix Suns Friday night wasn’t the kind of team effort that usually impresses LeBron James so much. With Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Chris Paul and DeAndre Ayton resting, Los Angeles still trailed the Suns at halftime.

However, the win pushed the Lakers’ record to 42-39, ensuring that they would finish the regular season with a winning record no matter what ultimately happens on Sunday against the Utah Jazz.

That was something to admire after the way Los Angeles got out of the gates in October.

“Oh and five,” James said, recalling the Lakers’ inception.

“Two-five,” he said, remembering the short winning streak to stop the bleeding.

“Two and 10,” he added, marking the second of a five-game losing streak in the Lakers’ first 12 games this year. “Yes, 2-10.”

The win over Phoenix made the Lakers only the sixth team in NBA history to start the season 2-10 or worse and finish with a winning record, joining the Chicago Bulls (twice in 2004-05 and 1976-77), and the New Jersey Nets (twice in 2004-05 and 1976). -77). twice in ’04-05 and 1981-82) and the Seattle SuperSonics (1977-78), according to research by ESPN Stats & Information.

“I was just saying AD [Anthony Davis]I was like, “Man, can you believe we’re going to finish this season over .500? After everything that’s happened this season?” James said. “We turned that thing around. And obviously, the regular season, there’s a lot of basketball that can be played. But to know we’re going to finish some games over .500? It’s really cool.”

Davis said he and James had to share their appreciation for some of the new teammates they got at the trade deadline that spurred Los Angeles into a post-All-Star run that brought the team to the brink of playoffs or, at least, championship play.

“We pointed out some of the players and we were like, ‘Thank you all,'” Davis said. It just didn’t look like we were going that way to start the season.” “Man, we kept pushing and we kept grinding. And obviously the guys who were able to come here helped us get more wins and in the end we got over .500.”

James (16 points) and Davis (14 points, 21 rebounds) only shot 10-for-31 against the Suns, but three other Lakers topped the 20-point plateau in D’Angelo Russell (24-for-9). 14 shooting), Austin Reeves (22 points on 9-for-13 shooting) and Malik Beasley (21 points on 7-for-14 shooting) took control of the game.

Los Angeles sits seventh in the West after Friday night, but the 5-9 seeds are still all odds depending on how the Lakers and other teams around them play in the crowded Western standings over the weekend.

The Lakers have bigger plans as they look forward, but on Friday night there was a collective sense of satisfaction glancing at how far they’d come.

“I’m certainly glad we were able to fight through that ordeal and try to find the right pieces that fit us and we were able to move forward,” said Lakers coach Darvin Hamm. “Our work isn’t done by a long shot, so at some point it would be nice to think back, but I hope I can think about this the first year after we hold a trophy or something. … In short, there’s a lot to be proud of.” And in the long form, we have more work to do.”