An efficient shooting night from LeBron James lifted the Los Angeles Lakers to a much-needed 143-138 win over the San Antonio Spurs.
It was a game full of surprises, including a bloody incident involving Zach Collins and Russell Westbrook, which ended with the former being ejected.
The bigger surprise though was L.A.’s shooting from deep, which has been a constant issue all season but ended up being the Lakers’ biggest weapon on Sunday.
Led by James who was 7-of-12 from deep, the Lakers finished the game shooting 17 of their 33 3-point attempts (51.5 per cent).
James finished the night with a team-high 39 points along with 11 rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block.
He had plenty of help too from Dennis Schroder (21 points, six assists, three rebounds) and Lonnie Walker IV (19 points, two assists, five rebounds).
The bench was also highly productive, combining for 49 points as Westbrook finished with 11 points, six assists and eight rebounds, although he also had six turnovers.
The victory was hardly guaranteed, with the Spurs holding a 52-41 lead midway through the second quarter before some key buckets from James, Troy Brown Jr. and Dennis Schroder helped the Lakers finish strong.
It saw L.A. take a 70-68 buffer into the halftime break, which was quickly extended as the Lakers scored the opening seven points of the third quarter.
Simmons has PERFECT night against Pacers | 00:45
Still, the Spurs would not go away — that was until a few clutch plays from James really started to put the Lakers in a comfortable position, at least that is what it looked like.
Up 121-105 with eight minutes left, James taking over as the Spurs called a timeout with the game quickly at risk of getting away from them.
A tip shot, 3-pointer and assist from Romeo Langford closed the gap to just eight points though, prompting the Lakers to call a timeout of their own.
It would end up being a much closer finish than most Lakers fans would have hoped but was a win nonethless — a second-straight over the Spurs and their seventh of the season.
There was a spot of drama earlier in the game as Collins was ejected in the latter stages of the third quarter for a flagrant 2 foul that split open Lakers star Westbrook.
SGA, GIDDEY SHINE BUT NOT ENOUGH FOR THUNDER
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey combined for 50 points but it was not enough for the Oklahoma City Thunder as they fell to a 118-105 defeat to the Houston Rockets.
The Rockets, led by electric second-year guard Jalen Green, claimed their fourth win of the season as they prepare for a treacherous run of games in the next fortnight.
Houston faces Denver (twice), Golden State, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Phoenix (twice) in six of its next seven games.
While the wins have not always been there for the rebuilding Rockets this season, there was plenty to smile about on Sunday as Green starred with 28 points, nine assists and two rebounds.
Green put on a shooting masterclass, connecting on six of his nine attempts from beyond the arc, with the Rockets as a whole draining 50 per cent of 3-point tries in the win.
Tatum too good for Doncic and co. | 00:54
That was a stark contrast to the Thunder, who shot just 22.7 per cent from downtown as Giddey and Gilgeous-Alexander did their best to power an otherwise ineffective offence.
Andrew Wiggins also added some spark off the bench with 15 points, shooting 3-for-6 from deep.
Otherwise, the starting backcourt duo combined to score or assist on 18 straight Okahoma City points to open the game, with Gilgeous-Alexander putting up 18 of the Thunder’s 44 points himself in the first half.
It was a promising first quarter for OKC, who had a habit of making poor starts to games but only found themselves trailing 23-22 this time around.
Instead it was the second quarter that put the Thunder well and truly on the backfoot, outscored 42-22 and behind 65-44 at halftime.
Houston had already shot 11-of-19 from deep at that point, with Green (15 points, eight assists) and Jabari Smith Jr. (11 points, nine rebounds) leading the way.
Realistically it could have been an even more dominant lead for the Rockets at that point, having given up 16 points to the Thunder off turnovers in the first half.
It was much of the same in the third quarter for OKC, as Gilgeous-Alexander added another 14 points to his tally, driving towards the basket to draw a series of free throws.
That was after Giddey added five points, two rebounds and an assist in the first six minutes of the quarter before he was taken out of the game for Tre Mann.
The Rockets though refused to let up, with Green putting up 13 points in the quarter as Houston breezed to victory.
OTHER RESULTS
Raptors 105 defeated Mavericks 100
