‘The King’ puts Adams in his place
LEBRON James came out well on top in a personal battle with Kiwi centre Steven Adams, as the LA Lakers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 112-95 in LA yesterday in their NBA clash.
‘The King’ had 21 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds, and Anthony Davis added 17 points against his former team, in the Lakers’ fifth consecutive victory.
Los Angeles fell behind by 15 points early, but rallied ferociously in their first game back at Staples Center after a perfect three-game trip.
James tangled with the rugged Adams when they were hooked up under the Pelicans basket late in the first half and both got technical fouls for verbals. Adams had only four points, but grabbed seven rebounds.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit four 3-pointers while scoring 16 points, and Montrezl Harrell also had 16 for the defending NBA champions.
‘‘We just settled in,’’ James said. ‘‘That first game after a road trip is always kind of difficult, but we got some stops and got back to playing our kind of basketball.’’
The Lakers remained unbeaten in five meetings with the Pelicans since the franchisealtering trade in July 2019 that sent Davis to LA and three starters to New Orleans.
Davis averaged 36 points and 12 rebounds in his three reunions with the Pelicans last season, but he took a complementary role this time in another impressive team win led by James. Seven Lakers scored at least nine points, and LA committed a season-low eight turnovers while forcing 20.
‘‘We’ve been locking in defensively,’’ Davis said. ‘‘We had a slow start but we’ve been doing it on the defensive end. We want to keep that mindset.’’
Brandon Ingram scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half for the Pelicans, who have lost five straight. Zion Williamson had 21 points and 12 rebounds.