Lakers take over first place in Pacific
Curry struggles, but Warriors still prevail
HOUSTON — Anthony Davis had 27 points, LeBron James added 18 and the Los Angeles Lakers won for the sixth time in seven games with a 120-102 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday night.
It was a testy game that included five technical fouls, two flagrant fouls and the first-half ejections of Markieff Morris and DeMarcus Cousins.
Davis, who sat out on Friday with a groin strain, helped the Lakers finish with 62 points in the paint in a game in which they led by as many as 27. Los Angeles pulled into first place in the NBA’s Pacific Division.
The Lakers were up by double figures for most of the night and opened the fourth quarter with a 10-4 run to push the lead to 98-79 with about nine minutes remaining. Houston used a 7-2 run, with a 3-pointer from Ben McLemore, later in the quarter to get within 15 with about five minutes to go. But former Rocket Montrezl Harrell scored four quick points to make it 108-89 and both teams took out most of their starters soon after that.
Morris was ejected in the first quarter after an altercation with Cousins. Morris knocked Jae’Sean Tate to the ground in the lane with a hard shoulder to the chest and Cousins quickly pushed Morris to the ground. Cousins then turned and was bending down to help Tate off the court when Morris jumped up, charged at Cousins and shoved him with both hands. He was quickly pulled away by teammates and officials but continued jawing at Cousins and trying to follow him to the Houston bench.
After a video review Morris received a flagrant 1 foul for the play on Tate and was given a technical foul and ejected for the ensuing dustup. Cousins was also given a technical foul but was not ejected.
But he wouldn’t remain in the game much longer. James was driving to the basket early in the second quarter when Cousins tried swipe at the ball but instead hit him in the head and face. James fell to the court where he remained for a few seconds before slowly getting up and remaining in the game.
WARRIORS 106, RAPTORS 105: In San Francisco, Damion Lee converted the tying and goahead free throws with 3.3 seconds left and Golden State withstood a rough fourth quarter and uncharacteristic struggles by Stephen Curry.
Curry shot 2 of 16 and missed nine of his 10 3s for 11 points after scoring 143 over his previous four games, including a career-high 62 one week earlier against Portland.
Pascal Siakam missed a jumper as the buzzer sounded but finished with 25 points, and Fred VanVleet scored 21 for Toronto in a rematch of the 2019 NBA Finals won in six games by the Raptors.
THUNDER 129, NETS 116: In New York, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points to lead Oklahoma City.
Gilgeous-Alexander was one of six players to finish in doublefigure scoring for the Thunder, who won their third straight and beat Brooklyn for the fifth consecutive time.
Kevin Durant scored 36 points to lead Brooklyn.
NUGGETS 114, KNICKS 89: In New York, Nikola Jokic had 22 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in another short night, and Denver reached .500 for the first time this season.
The Nuggets opened 1-4 after reaching the Western Conference finals last season. This was the first time the Nuggets allowed fewer than 100 points this season.
CLIPPERS 130, BULLS 127: In Los Angeles, freed from the pesky mask he’d been wearing on court for two weeks, Kawhi Leonard cut loose. Getting a steal and a dunk, hitting 3-pointer after 3-pointer.
He finished with a seasonhigh 35 points, going over 10,000 in his career, and the Clippers rallied to beat Chicago.
Zach LaVine led six Bulls in double figures with a seasonhigh 45 points.
JAZZ 96, PISTONS 86: In Detroit, Donovan Mitchell scored 13 of his 28 points in a decisive first quarter for Utah.
The Pistons were coming off an overtime win over Phoenix on Friday night in which they rallied from a 23-point deficit, but they couldn’t climb out of another big hole.
Utah scored the game’s first nine points and never trailed. The Jazz went on a 17-0 run later in the first.
TIMBERWOLVES 96, SPURS 88: In Minneapolis, D’Angelo Russell had 27 points, five rebounds and five assists as the Wolves snapped a seven-game losing streak.
Minnesota was playing without star big man Karl-Anthony Towns, who returned to action Saturday after missing six games with a partial dislocation of his left wrist. Sunday’s absence was part of the plan to ease Towns back in and not a result of any reaggravation of his injury. Sunday’s win was Minnesota’s first without Towns this season.
CELTICS-HEAT POSTPONED: The scheduled game Sunday between Boston and Miami was postponed — not because the Celtics ruled out seven players due to the league’s health and safety protocols for playing during the coronavirus pandemic, but because of concerns about exposure within the Heat roster.
The Heat learned earlier Sunday that guard Avery Bradley would not be available because of COVID-19 protocols. That meant the Heat had to go through the contact tracing data, which was still ongoing late Sunday afternoon.