Davis leads Lakers past Hawks

ANTHONY DAVIS scored 25 points and LeBron James dominated down the stretch as the Los Angeles Lakers closed out a nearly two-week trip with a 107-99 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.

The Lakers took control with a 16-0 run bookended around the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth.

Atlanta rallied, closing to 98-97 on Trae Young’s 3-pointer. But James responded with a 3 of his own from the top of the key, came up with a huge block at the other end on Clint Capela, and finished off the Hawks with a layup off a pass Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

James tacked on four straight free throws to seal the victory. He finished with 21 points after managing only nine through the first three quarters. Young led the Hawks with 25 points and 16 assists.

HORNETS 129, HEAT 121:

Malik Monk had the best scoring game of his career, and the Charlotte Hornets got a comeback they won’t soon forget.

Monk came off the bench to score 36 points and make nine 3-pointers, Devonte’ Graham added 24 points and the Hornets rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final 2:47 of regulation to beat the Miami Heat 129-121 in overtime.

The 36 points was a Hornets’ reserve record, one better than the 35 that Graham had against Indiana on Nov. 5, 2019.

Monk sent the Hornets to OT by making a 3-pointer with 16.6 seconds left, and Charlotte never trailed in the extra period. Cody Zeller had 19 points and 12 rebounds, Gordon Hayward scored 19 and LaMelo Ball finished with 14 points and seven assists for Charlotte in his first start.

Jimmy Butler scored 25 points and Bam Adebayo added 23 for Miami, which got 19 from Max Strus. The Heat used a 24-7 run to turn a seven-point deficit into a 10-point lead late in the fourth, then couldn’t finish it off.

BULLS 110, KNICKS 102:

Lauri Markkanen scored 30 points, Zach LaVine added 17 of his 21 in the second half and the Chicago Bulls beat the New York Knicks 110102.

Markkanen delivered another blistering performance coming off a season-high, 31-point outing. The 7-footer from Finland made six 3-pointers.

LaVine hit a 3 and two free throws during a game-ending 10-2 run. Coby White scored 13, including a tiebreaking 3. Thaddeus Young added 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

The Bulls bounced back from a gut-wrenching loss to Portland on Saturday, when the Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard delivered a buzzer-beating, fadeaway 3. Chicago won for just the third time in nine home games this season.

Julius Randle had 23 points and Alec Burks scored 18 for New York. Rookie Immanuel Quickley added 16 points but the Knicks lost for the fifth time in six games.

GRIZZLES 133, SPURS 102

Gorgui Dieng scored 19 points, Brandon Clarke had 18 and the Memphis Grizzlies routed the San Antonio Spurs 133-102 on Monday night to extend their winning streak to seven games.

Kyle Anderson and De’Anthony Melton added 17 points each and Ja Morant had 13 points and eight assists as Memphis won its second straight game after a 12-day layoff due to the league’s health and safety protocols.

Keldon Johnson had 25 points and 11 rebounds for San Antonio, which has dropped two straight after winning its previous three. The Spurs pulled their starters and key reserves midway through the fourth quarter with the Grizzlies up 111-90.

Memphis had nine players score in double figures as it completed a two-game sweep at San Antonio. After shooting 56% from the field in Saturday’s 129-112 victory, Memphis matched that percentage Monday and also shot 50% on 3-pointers.

KINGS 118, PELICANS 109:

De’Aaron Fox scored 38 points, including 17 straight Sacramento points during the final seven minutes, and the Kings erased a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit for a 118-109 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Harrison Barnes scored 24 points and Richaun Holmes had 17 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks for the Kings, who won for the fourth time in five games.

New Orleans led 97-87 after rookie guard Kira Lewis stole the ball from Barnes and set up Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s transition 3-pointer. But the Kings responded with a 16-3 run that began with 3s by Barnes and 2016 Pelicans firstround draft choice Buddy Hield. Fox’s 3 capped the surge and gave Sacramento a 101-100 lead.

Fox wound up outscoring New Orleans by himself in the fourth quarter, 17-15, highlighting his outburst with ball fakes on penetrating drives that left defenders flat-footed before he finished fluidly at the rim. Holmes played a role in that, blocking shots by Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart during the pivotal final period.

Ingram scored 20 for New Orleans, which has dropped two straight. Hart and Zion Williamson each scored 17. Hart also grabbed 13 rebounds.

CAVALIERS 100, TIMBERWOLVES 98: Collin Sexton scored 26 points and Jarrett Allen had 23 points and 18 rebounds, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 100-98 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves and a split of their home-and-home series.

Darius Garland had 19 points and 11 assists for the Cavaliers, who had lost four of their last five games, including a 109-104 decision at Minnesota one night earlier. Allen blocked five shots in his initial start since being acquired from Brooklyn on January 14.

D’Angelo Russell scored 18 points and No. 1 overall draft pick Anthony Edwards had 13 points in his third NBA start for the Timberwolves. Minnesota dropped its eighth straight on the road and is 2-8 overall since January 13.

Cleveland held a 98-91 lead with 19 seconds remaining, but Minnesota pulled within two after Russell buried a 3-pointer and Malik Beasley scored in the lane.

Taurean Prince made two free throws with 3.9 seconds left to extend the Cavaliers’ advantage to 100-96, making Naz Reid’s layup just before the buzzer irrelevant.

ROCKETS 136, THUNDER 106

Eric Gordon scored 25 points and the Houston Rockets hit an NBA record-tying 11 3-pointers in a 48-point first quarter, cruising to a 136-106 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night.

John Wall scored the first eight points for the Rockets and finished with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. Christian Wood also scored 18 and added 11 rebounds in Houston’s sixth straight victory.

Gordon, Wood and Victor Oladipo all had 10 points in the first 12 minutes and the Rockets led by as many as 26 in the first half. It was the second straight game the Rockets had a 48-point quarter.

The Rockets were 11 for 14 from beyond the arc in the opening quarter. They finished 28 for 52 (53.8%) from 3.

Oklahoma City led 4-3 before the Rockets went on a 17-0 run and never looked back.

Houston led 73-54 at the half, the second straight game the Thunder had given up more than 70 points in the first half and third straight half teams had reached that total. They allowed Brooklyn 76 points in the first half and 71 in the second half last Friday night in a 147-125 loss.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 19 points for the Thunder.

CALLED OFF

NBA calls off Detroit-Denver game because of virus issuesDetroit’s game at Denver on Monday night was called off by the NBA because of contact tracing issues for the Pistons left the team without enough players available to take the floor.

It was the first postponement announced by the NBA in a week, and the first game that won’t be played since the Chicago at Memphis game that was scheduled to take place today.

The league got every game on the schedule between tomorrow and Sunday played, the longest run without a postponement in nearly a month.

Denver was one of six teams that had avoided postponements; that list is now down to Brooklyn, New York, Toronto, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The NBA has now postponed 23 games this season, 22 since January 10. Some of those games will be made up before the first-half schedule ends March 4; others may be rescheduled in the second half that starts March 11. —