LeBron divides, conquers Bucks
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — LeBron James scored a season-high 34 points as the Los Angeles Lakers won their eighth straight road game with a 113-106 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.
The victory opened a seven game road trip for the NBA champion Lakers, who are hoping this is the beginning of another win streak.
They had a five-game winning streak snapped in their most recent outing, a 115-113 loss to Golden State.
"Our motivation was not losing two in a row tonight. We were able to get that accomplished," said forward Anthony Davis.
James made a key three pointer and capped his night with an emphatic double clutch slam dunk as the Lakers improved to a NBA best 12-4 on the season after Thursday's gritty performance at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 23 points and Davis finished with 18 points and nine rebounds in the win. Caldwell-Pope sank seven-of-10 threes as the Lakers went 19-of-37 from three-point range.
The Lakers made 19-of-37 from beyond the arc and bottled up reigning league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds but had a career high nine turnovers.
"We've got to keep working, keep playing good basketball for longer periods of time, make shots, defend better, rebound the ball better," Antetokounmpo said. "Ultimately we've got to get better."
The Lakers started the fourth with a five point lead, 86-81, but quickly extended that to 11 points. The Bucks took advantage of some sloppy Laker defence to go on a 9-0 run to close the gap to 98-96 with three minutes to go.
But four-time MVP James and Alex Caruso each drained key three pointers in the final two minutes. James put the game away in style by driving hard to the basket and dunking it with 15 seconds remaining in the fourth.