James triple-double propels Lakers past Pistons

LOS ANGELES: LeBron James produced his ninth triple-double of the season Sunday and the Los Angeles Lakers blocked 20 shots on the way to a fifth straight NBA victory, 106-99 over the Detroit Pistons.

Anthony Davis had eight of the Lakers’ 20 blocks – which were one shy of the club record set in 1982. JaVale McGee had six and Dwight Howard had five with Avery Bradley adding one.

“I think it’s a remarkable feat,” James said of the blocks.

“Dwight, JaVale and AD they make it easy on us and we try to contain a lot of these small quick guards and these rim attackers.”

Davis also added 24 points with 11 rebounds and three steals as the Western Conference-leading Lakers repelled a late challenge from the Pistons and remained unbeaten against teams with losing records.

Los Angeles scored the first 15 points of the fourth quarter and led by 11 points with 7:42 remaining, but a 13-1 scoring run put the Pistons up by one point with 4:51 left.

A driving dunk by James had the Lakers lead back to four with 3:22 remaining, but Derrick Rose’s three-pointer whittled the gap again.

Davis responded with a threepointer and Howard produced the Lakers’ 20th block of the night as the Lakers hung on.

“We played a heck of a game,” James said.

“This team came in and they played extremely hard, they were super well-coached and they did a heck of a job of taking us out of a lot of things we wanted to do offensively and we just tried to do the same to them.”

Dwight, JaVale and AD they make it easy on us and we try to contain a lot of these small quick guards and these rim attackers. LeBron James