James scores 51 for Lakers at Miami
Lillard goes for 40 points for Trail Blazers against Wizards
MIAMI — LeBron James scored 51 points against his former club and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat 113-97 on Sunday night.
James had 19 points in the first quarter to set the tone, the Lakers led by as many as 21 and never trailed.
The 51 points were a season high for James, and the most he’s scored against Miami; he had 47 against the Heat twice. His last shot was a 32-footer with 16 seconds left, capping the 13th 50-point game of his career — including playoffs — and he threw the ball skyward at midcourt when time expired.
It was James’ first time winning against Miami since he left the Heat after the 2014 NBA Finals. He was 0-4 when facing the Heat since; his teams were 0-7, when including the three Cleveland-Miami games that he sat out for various reasons.
Wayne Ellington scored 19 points for Miami (6-10), which has dropped four straight home games and is off to its second-worst start in the last 12 years. The Heat were 5-11 at this point of the 2016-17 season, the only other time they’ve been worse after 16 games in that span.
Josh Richardson scored 17 points before getting ejected in the fourth quarter after throwing one of his sneakers about 15 rows deep into the crowd, while he was arguing about what he thought should have been a foul call that didn’t come his way. Tyler Johnson also had 17 points for the Heat, while Rodney McGruder added 14. TRAIL BLAZERS 119, WIZARDS 109: In Washington D.C., Damian Lillard scored 40 points, C.J. McCullom added 25 and Portland beat Washington to snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 11-5.
Jusuf Nurkic had 13 points, 14 rebounds and matched his career high with eight assists. MAGIC 131, KNICKS 117: In Orlando, Fla., Aaron Gordon scored 20 of his 31 points in the first quarter and Orlando held off New York for its seventh victory in nine games.
Nikola Vucevic had 28 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. The Magic shot 57 percent and set a season high for points, surpassing the 130 they scored Saturday night against the Los Angeles Lakers. SPURS 104, WARRIORS 92: In San Antonio, LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and 18 rebounds and San Antonio Spurs fended off a late rally to beat short-handed Golden State, extending the Warriors’ skid to three games.
DeMar DeRozan had 20 points, and Rudy Gay added 19 to help San Antonio snap a three-game slide.
Kevin Durant scored 26 points and Klay Thompson had 25 for Golden State. The Warriors are 2-5 since an eight-game winning streak. The Warriors were without injured starters Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, and their absence led to a cold start. Three nights after being held to a season-low output in a 107-86 loss at Houston, the two-time defending NBA champions nearly matched that dubious mark. GRIZZLIES 100, TIMBERWOLVES 87: In Minneapolis, Marc Gasol had 26 points and 13 rebounds, Mike Conley added 18 points and nine assists and Memphis pulled away to beat Minnesota,
Gasol was 4 of 7 from 3-point range and Memphis hit 12 overall. The Grizzlies forced Minnesota into 20 turnovers and turned them into 19 points.