Resurgent Lakers spoil Luka Doncic triple-double 

Anthony Davis scored 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, D’Angelo Russell delivered 29 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers continued their revival with a 127-110 home victory to spoil the return of the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic on Wednesday, January 17 (Thursday, January 18, Manila time).

Davis just missed out on his third career triple-double, as he handed out 9 assists. LeBron James amassed 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists as the Lakers improved to 4-2 since January 7. Los Angeles had lost nine of 11 games before the current run of success.

Doncic delivered 33 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists for Dallas after missing the previous three games with a sprained right ankle. The Mavericks went 2-1 in the games their All-Star missed.

Dereck Lively II scored 16 points for Dallas, but Kyrie Irving was held to 12 points on 4-of-16 shooting after he averaged 39.7 points per game while Doncic was out. Tim Hardaway Jr. also had 12 points.

Hardaway and Irving combined for 83 points in a victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday.

Doncic shot just 2-of-7 from the floor in the opening quarter, then went 6-of-9 in the second period. He had 20 points at the half, but the Lakers held a 55-53 lead. Davis had 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting in the first half for Los Angeles.

Dallas was within 62-59 early in the third quarter before the Lakers went on a 7-0 run for their first double-digit lead at 69-59 with 8:56 remaining in the period. A 13-2 run increased Los Angeles’ advantage to 82-64 with 6:14 left in the third as James made two three-pointers in that stretch.

The Lakers led by as many as 22 in the third quarter and went into the final period with a 97-80 advantage. Los Angeles shot 65.2% from the floor in the third quarter.

Los Angeles cruised to the victory from there, shooting 53.8% from the floor in the game and reaching the 50% mark for the sixth consecutive contest. Dallas hit 46.2% of its field goal attempts. – Rappler.com