Whicker: Lakers were looking for a defensive surge and they found it

LOS ANGELES — It’s not always how many, but when.
And, in the NBA, it’s always about who.
The long-playing saga of LeBron James reached an L.A. peak on Friday night, against the NBA’s best team and against the NBA’s best player, if you believe the MVP odds and the 2019 trophy that Giannis Antetokounmpo holds.
The 37-year-old James asked to guard the 25-year-old Antetokounmpo when Anthony Davis got into foul trouble, and in a third-quarter stretch James got the ball