Andre Drummond finished with a double double of 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Brooklyn Nets 126-101.
The Lakers entered the game missing their two best players, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But they overcame that with energetic play, strong perimeter shooting and a lockdown defence.
Without James and Davis, the Lakers had been one of the National Basketball Association’s lowest-scoring teams over the past couple of weeks. James was missing his 11th game in a row and Davis has been sidelined for the past 25.
The Nets were without injured all-star James Harden and then lost guard Kyrie Irving who had scored 18 points. Irving suffered ejection for the first time in his career in the second half.
Kevin Durant was forced to carry the load for the Nets. In his second game back from a hamstring injury, Durant tallied 22 points. He also had seven rebounds and five assists in front of a few crowd of 1,700 at Barclays Centre.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 12 points for the Nets who have won eight of their last 11 games.
Irving and the Lakers’ Schroder who finished with 19 points suffered ejection early in the third-quarter. And that was for jawing too long after the referee called a foul on the Nets’ player.
Ben McLemore had 17 points for the Lakers who held the Nets to 43.8 shooting from the floor. Markieff Morris added 14 points while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope contributed 14 points and five assists.
The Lakers jumped out an 18-7 lead on 54 percent shooting from the floor in the first quarter. But they were leading by just four when Irving got a toss.
In Salt Lake City, Donovan Mitchell scored 42 points. And the Utah Jazz won their 24th consecutive game at home with a 128-112 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
Mike Conley delivered 26 points and Joe Ingles came off the bench to score 20. That helped the Jazz overcome a double-digit deficit en route to an easy win over the Kings. Conley also had five threes.
The Jazz became the first team to reach 40 wins in the season and posted their 11th win in 13 games.
Also, Devin Booker’s 27 points, double-doubles from both Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton helped the Phoenix Suns. And that was to a dominating 134-106 victory over the Washington Wizards.
In Portland, Enes Kanter set a Trail Blazers record with 30 rebounds. And he also scored 24 points to lead Portland to a 118-103 win over the Detroit Pistons.