Walk in the park
Easy win for LeBron, Lakers
When you lose a mega-piece like AD (Davis), it’s going to take some time both offensively and defensively
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — LeBron James scored 19 points and had plenty of time to sit back and enjoy the Los Angeles Lakers’ 117-91 National Basketball Association (NBA) victory over the Golden State Warriors.
James, playing in his 1,300th regular-season game, added six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots in just 24 minutes on court.
He sat out all of the fourth quarter along with the rest of the starters from both teams as the Lakers closed out what had become a tough February with a dominant victory despite the continuing absence of star forward Anthony Davis.
The NBA champions, who lost five of their first six with Anthony sidelined, have now won two straight.
Jayson’s will really shone through.
“When you lose a mega-piece like AD (Davis), it’s going to take some time both offensively and defensively,” James said of the adjustments required.
James said the Lakers were becoming more comfortable in the roles they’ve had to adopt with Davis sidelined, an absence that Lakers coach Frank Vogel said called on them to develop a “little bit of a new identity.”
Six Lakers scored in double figures as they avenged a narrow loss to the Warriors in January.
James capped an overwhelming first half with a pull-up three-pointer that put the Lakers up, 73-44.
Eric Paschall led the Warriors with 18 points off the bench as star Stephen Curry was limited to 16.
The end of the Warriors’ three-game winning streak was made more painful with departure of Draymond Green with a sprained left ankle in the second quarter.
The Lakers’ win wasn’t even the most lopsided of the night. That belonged to the Memphis Grizzlies, who trounced the slumping Houston Rockets, 133-84.
However, there was plenty of drama in Boston, where forward Jayson Tatum drove for two baskets in the final 15 seconds to lead the Celtics to a 111-110 come-from-behind victory over the Washington Wizards.
Tatum scored 31 points and the Celtics withstood a 46-point performance from Washington’s Bradley Beal to complete their first back-to-back wins since January.
The Celtics trailed by five with 46.9 seconds remaining. Tatum cut the deficit with a driving finger-roll layup and with 4.7 seconds left spun and drove through traffic for the go-ahead basket.
“Jayson’s will really shone through,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said.
“It’s been a tough stretch for (Tatum), but this matters to him, he wants to win, and he made big plays.”
It came down to the wire in Sacramento, where the Charlotte Hornets trailed by nine with 2:19 remaining but battled back to beat the Kings, 127-126.