New York, Jan. 26 (BUS): LeBron James greeted the return of Anthony Davis with a lob pass for the first basket of the game, then turned to his own attack to score 33 points in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 106-96 win over the Brooklyn Nets. Tuesday night.
Davis scored eight points in 25 minutes after missing 17 games with a left knee sprain and the Lakers took the bench from Malik Monk and Carmelo Anthony, the Associated Press reported.
James added seven rebounds and six assists, punctuating his steals and dunks performance by nearly 15 seconds midway through the fourth quarter in front of a raucous crowd who didn’t have most of his stars to cheer.
Monk scored 22 points, scored six three-pointers, and Anthony added 13 points.
James Harden scored 33 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in an impressive follow-up to his strong game in Los Angeles when the Nets won there on Christmas. But with Kevin Durant still out with a twisted left knee ligament and unprotected Kyrie Irving unavailable again now that the Nets are back from their four-game wild ride, the Nets couldn’t match the Lakers on one of their good nights at Uneven. season.
Davis seemed instantly in sync, throwing a lob pass from James on first possession of the game. He also blocked three shots in the first quarter, which ended with the Lakers leading 33-25 in James’ basket with time up.
James opened the second quarter with a three-point play to push the lead to 11, and the Lakers would advance by up to 14 before leading 62-53 to the end of the first half.
He netted a two-pointer midway through the third inning, but James made straight jumpers, Monk hit a three-pointer and James fired a pass into Russell Westbrook which resulted in a three-point play that capped a 10-2 boom and restored the two-digit lead at 81-71 . It was not closed again.
Hint
Lakers: Westbrook scored 15 points. …Monk had 16 points in the first half.
Nets: Harden becomes the 32nd player with 23,000 points. The active four were all on the rosters of these teams: James, Anthony and Durant are ahead of him. Center Nick Claxton is back after missing seven games due to a tight hamstring. He had six points and seven rebounds in 17 minutes.
ready or not
Coach Frank Vogel said the Lakers expected Davis to have stretches where he was out of sync or tempo, because he would see his way into shape in games without enough opportunities to do so during full 5-on-5 practice positions.
“With the limited training time, we still look at these first few games as not out of the woods yet,” Vogel said. “This will be the stage of his renewal.”
listening from hell
Coach Steve Nash said he has not spoken to Harden about any of Harden’s concerns reported in Bleacher Report Tuesday looking into his post-season free agency. The story said that Harden was frustrated with Irving’s part-time condition and Nash’s playing rotation. They don’t sound like the things Harden would say, Nash said.
“So I’m not sure what to believe,” Nash said. “James and I talk all the time and I think we have a great relationship, so I’m not sure if these comments are true to be honest with you.”
next one
Lakers: Visit Philadelphia on Thursday.
Curling: Host Denver on Wednesday.