Jodie Meeks’ best game of season helps Lakers topple Wizards

Jodie Meeks gave the Lakers his best performance of the year, helping the team break a nasty four-game losing streak on Friday night as the Lakers defeated the Washington Wizards, 102-96.

Meeks scored 24 points on nine-of-14 shooting along with five rebounds and three steals.

Despite shooting 64.3% from the field and 57.1% from behind the arc, it wasn’t Meeks’ most efficient game of the season. Back on Nov. 30 the Lakers guard hit 7-8 from behind the arc to score 21 points in 17 1/2 minutes.

It took 30 1/2 minutes to score 24 but Meeks helped carry the Lakers offensively, especially when the team had fallen behind in the second quarter. When the Lakers didn’t seem to have anyone able to put the ball in the basket, Meeks took over.

He also gave tremendous energy defensively, when his teammates seemed tired on the second night of a back-to-back. While Meeks isn’t a lockdown perimeter defender, he’s shown that he can contribute with his agility and effort.

The Lakers are pushing through significant injuries. Meeks is shooting 40.2% from three on the season, which should improve even further once the team has a full complement of players.

In the meantime, Meeks has shaken off a slow start that saw him outside of the team’s rotation (under Mike Brown) to be a valuable contributor player for the Lakers.

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Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.