LAKERS WIN THE BATTLE OF BACKUPS
Frank Vogel isn’t complaining about the Los Angeles Lakers finishing a sevengame road trip with a 4-3 record.
“I think all of our guys are really fatigued right now,” the Lakers’ second-year head coach said. “We are stretched really thin with all of the injuries and the compact schedule. To come out of it 4-3 on this stretch, we feel good about that.”
Lakers 101, Hornets 93
Kyle Kuzma scored 24 points, and the Lakers held on for a hard-fought 101-93 win against a Charlotte Hornets team missing five of its top six scorers on Tuesday night.
Dennis Schroder added 19 points and Andre Drummond chipped in with 12 rebounds for the Lakers, who’ll return home to face the Boston Celtics on Thursday with fans allowed in the Staples Center.
“It could be a big impact having that energy,” Lakers guard Kentavious CaldwellPope said. “That energy can fill you up.”
Devonte Graham led the Hornets with 19 points. Caleb Martin had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The Lakers held the Hornets to 43.4 percent shooting overall and 25.7 percent from 3-point range.
The game was largely a battle of backups, with the Hornets missing four starters due to injury and the Lakers three.
Charlotte was missing more than 72 percent of its scoring with Terry Rozier and P.J. Washington joining LaMelo Ball, Gordon Hayward and Malik Monk on the bench. The Lakers, who are still without All-Stars LeBron
James and Anthony Davis, were also missing Markieff Morris with a sprained left ankle.
The Lakers built a 10point lead in the closing seconds of the third quarter behind a jumper by Schroder.
But Charlotte cut the lead to one with 1:54 remaining behind a coast-to-coast layup and a 3-pointer from Graham. The Hornets had a chance to take the lead after getting a defensive stop, but Graham turned the ball over and Alex Caruso made them pay at the other end with a clutch 3 with 43 seconds left.
“That was a big shot to seal the game,” Vogel said of Caruso, who finished with 13 points and six assists. “He does so much dirty work for us that it was great to see him hit that shot. He was the star of the game.”
Nets 127, Timberwolves 97: Kevin Durant scored 31 points on 11-for-15 shooting in his most productive performance in 21⁄2 months as visiting Brooklyn blew out Minnesota.
The game was rescheduled from the previous night, in the aftermath of a fatal police shooting of a Black man in a nearby suburb. The Timberwolves held a moment of silence before tipoff for 20-year-old Daunte Wright, who was killed after a traffic stop.
Clippers 126, Pacers 115: Paul George continued to dominate his former team by scoring 36 points, leading visiting Los Angeles past Indiana. The Clippers have won six straight and 12 of 14 overall. George also had seven rebounds and eight assists while improving to 4-0 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse since being traded by the Pacers to Oklahoma City in July 2017.
Jazz 106, Thunder 96: Bojan Bogdanovic scored 23 points and Donovan Mitchell added 22 as host Utah beat Oklahoma City. Luguentz Dort scored career-high 42 points for the Thunder, who have lost seven in a row and 10 of 11.
Suns 106, Heat 86: Deandre Ayton scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead host Phoenix past Miami for its third straight win.
Hawks 107, Raptors 103: Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 23 points, Clint Capela added 19 points and 21 rebounds, and Atlanta beat Toronto in Tampa, Fla., for its seventh win in eight games. Pascal Siakam led the Raptors with 30 points and rookie Malachi Flynn scored 22.
Celtics 116, Trail Blazers 115: Jayson Tatum scored 24 of his 32 points in the second half and Jaylen Brown had 24 as visiting Boston won its fourth straight. Damian Lillard scored 28 points and had 10 assists for Portland.