Lakers beat Spurs with big outing from Davis
Anthony Davis had 34 points and 15 rebounds to help the Lakers beat San Antonio 114-106 on Sunday at Staples Center.
Talen Horton-Tucker scored 17 points in his season debut for the Lakers, and Carmelo Anthony and Wayne Ellington each had 15 points.
Los Angeles led by 14 points in the second half. The Lakers improved to 3-3 since LeBron James was sidelined Nov. 4 because of an abdominal strain. The Lakers have won four overall games this season without James, one a 125-121 overtime victory in San Antonio on Oct. 26.
Davis had the big game two days after the Lakers were humbled by 24 points in a home loss to Minnesota, with the All-Star forward saying afterward the performance was “embarrassing” and that the team lacked effort in a deciding third quarter.
His outing Sunday was a concerted effort to lead by example.
“I wanted to come out and dominate the game and do whatever I could to get the team going,” Davis said.
“That’s the type of energy you need from our bench, our star players, our role players.”
San Antonio lost for the fifth time in its past seven games and fell in the opener of consecutive games at Los Angeles, with a meeting against the surging Clippers on Tuesday night.
Hawks 120, Bucks 100: Trae Young scored a season-best 42 points and host Atlanta snapped a six-game losing streak, beating Milwaukee in a matchup of struggling teams that met last season in the Eastern Conference finals. Nets 120, Thunder 96: Kevin Durant scored 33 points to help visiting Brooklyn beat Oklahoma City. Durant played eight seasons in Oklahoma City, winning four scoring titles and an MVP award and leading the Thunder to the NBA Finals once before joining the Warriors in 2016.
Suns 115, Rockets 89: Devin Booker had 26 points and six assists and visiting Phoenix won its eighth straight game and handed Houston its 11th loss in a row. Booker had 16 points in the first quarter, and finished 9-for-23 from the field.
Nuggets 124, Blazers 95:
Nikola Jokic racked up 28 points, nine assists and nine rebounds in host Denver’s fifth straight win. Damian Lillard sat out with abdominal pain.
Bulls 100, Clippers 90: DeMar DeRozan had 35 points and seven rebounds in Chicago’s road win over Los Angeles. Zach LaVine added 29 points for the Bulls, winners of four straight.