Lakers top Blazers with big games from James, Davis
LOS ANGELES >> After their last loss, the Lakers knew better than to count wins before the clock ran out.
It took until 2:22 remaining with a 16-point lead for Coach Darvin Ham to slowly begin subbing out his starters. This time, they had earned their rest.
LeBron James led with 31 points, Anthony Davis helped with a 27-point, 12-rebound effort, and the Lakers (8-12) finished off the visiting Portland Trail Blazers (11-11) the way they should have wrapped up a win two nights before in a 128-109 win, despite being down two starters.
It was the team’s sixth win in eight games, and an important victory at home before heading out on the longest road trip of the season: a 12-day, six-game trek through the Midwest and East Coast that starts Friday against Eastern Conference titan Milwaukee.
If this is the form that the Lakers’ stars are in, it’s encouraging. James was 12 for 18 from the floor with eight assists and seven rebounds, including six 3-pointers. Davis had his eighth straight double-double with 20 or more points, and had critical fourth-quarter baskets after only taking two shots in that frame on Monday. Russell Westbrook had 10 points and the team was plus-12 in his 23 minutes.
Maybe the surprise of the night was Austin Reaves, twirling his way through the paint for 22 points, including a dazzling up-andunder baseline drive. His big night helped compensate for the late scratches of Lonnie Walker IV and Troy Brown Jr., two fairly steady starters on the wing this season.
Jerami Grant led Portland, who played minus Damian Lillard, with 27 points.
The Lakers led by double digits for the last quarterand-a-half of the game.
LAKERS 128,
TRAIL BLAZERS 109 Up next:
Notably, the Lakers won the rebounding battle (5851) and had 28 assists to just seven turnovers in the game. Both had been weak spots against the Pacers that the Lakers worked on in a Tuesday film session.
There was an initial listlessness about the Lakers, particularly concerning coming off of perhaps the most disheartening loss of the season by giving up a 17-point fourth-quarter lead to Indiana.