California: Anthony Davis had a team-high 21 points, LeBron James ran up a triple-double and the Los Angeles Lakers used a 44-point first quarter Saturday night to power a front-running 129-113 victory over the host Sacramento Kings.
Avery Bradley poured 16 of his 19 points into the first 12 minutes for the Lakers, who were coming off a 127-119 home loss that followed a tribute to the late Kobe Bryant on Friday night.
The Lakers improved to 7-0 on the second night of back-to-backs, riding Bradley’s four early 3-pointers to lead by as many as 24 in the first 12 minutes. James’ finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for his 11th triple-double of the season, one off Luka Doncic’s league lead, and the 92nd of his career. Only Oscar Robertson (181), Russell Westbrook (146), Magic Johnson (138) and Jason Kidd (107) have more career triple-doubles.
De’Aaron Fox scored a game-high 24 points, and Buddy Hield had 22 for the Kings, who had won three of their last four.
Portland Trail Blazers 124 – Utah Jazz 107
Damian Lillard continued his torrid roll with 51 points on 17-of-29 shooting from the field, and he added 12 assists to lead host Portland past Utah.
Lillard also made all eight of his free throws en route to his third 50-point effort over the past six games and fourth of the season. He is averaging 48.8 points during the six-game stretch. Hassan Whiteside added 17 points, 21 rebounds and three blocked shots as the Trail Blazers won their fourth straight game and fifth in their last six.
Donovan Mitchell scored 25 points, and Bojan Bogdanovic and Mike Conley added 22 apiece but couldn’t prevent the Jazz from losing their season-worst fourth straight game. – Agencies
