LEBRON, LAKERS HANDLE OKC
The Los Angeles Lakers were ready for the Thunder this time. Having LeBron James on the court was a big reason why.
James scored 33 points on 13-of-20 shooting, and the Lakers rolled past Oklahoma City 116-95 on Friday night.
James — who sat out the Lakers’ first two games against the Thunder this season, both losses — had six assists and five rebounds. Avery Bradley added a season-high 22 points for the Lakers, who moved one game above .500.
“There’s teams that we should have beaten that we didn’t beat,” Lakers center DeAndre Jordan said. “And we don’t want to look back in April, whatever it is and, ‘Oh wow, we could have had home-court advantage. We could have did this, we could have done that if we would have finished a game out an extra eight minutes.’ ”
Rookie Tre Mann scored a season-high 19 points for
Oklahoma City. He brought the crowd to its feet with a powerful right-handed jam over Wayne Ellington seconds after James had dunked on him on the other end.
The Lakers led by 25 points in the second quarter, but the Thunder cut it to 12 before the Lakers re-asserted themselves and led 64-45 at the break. James had 23 points in the first half on 9for-10 shooting.
The Lakers led 93-68 at the end of the third quarter.
Suns 111, Celtics 90: JaVale McGee had season highs with 21 points and 15 rebounds, Chris Paul added 12 assists and host Phoenix rolled to a win over Boston. The Suns won for the 20th time in 21 games despite missing starters Devin Booker (hamstring) and Deandre Ayton (non-COVID illness).
Nets 113, Hawks 105: Kevin Durant scored 31 points, including a go-ahead jumper midway through the fourth quarter, and visiting Brooklyn proved to be resilient once again, beating Atlanta. Trae Young led Atlanta with 31 points.
Bucks 123, Rockets 114:
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 41 points and 17 rebounds, and visiting Milwaukee snapped Houston’s sevengame winning streak. The Bucks won for the 11th time in 13 games.
Hornets 124, Kings 123:
Sacramento’s three-game winning streak ended when De’Aaron Fox missed two free throws with 2.4 seconds left to give host Charlotte the victory. Charlotte rookie James Bouknight, the 11th pick in the draft, scored a career-high 24 points on six 3-pointers
Raptors 90, Knicks 87:
Gary Trent Jr. scored 24 points, Fred VanVleet had 17 points and 11 assists, and Toronto won its 10th straight home meeting against New York.
Pacers 106, Mavericks 93:
Caris LeVert scored 26 points and Domantas Sabonis added 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead host Indiana past Dallas. Luka Doncic had 27 points, nine rebounds and nine assists for Dallas.
Cavaliers 123, Timberwolves 106: Jarrett Allen had 21 points and 10 rebounds and visiting Cleveland cruised past Minnesota. Kevin Love scored 18 points and had 13 rebounds off the bench against his former team.
Pelicans 109, Pistons 93: Brandon Ingram scored 26 points and host New Orleans extended Detroit’s losing streak to 11 games.
Notable
The Lakers were without star big man Anthony Davis in Oklahoma City because of soreness in his left knee, the team announced.
• Indiana coach Rick Carlisle missed Friday night’s game against Dallas after testing positive for COVID-19. Assistant coach Lloyd Pierce took over in Carlisle’s absence.