LeBron James poured 33 points and dished out 14 assists to push the visiting Los Angeles Lakers to a 114-104 victory over the struggling San Antonio Spurs on Monday in the Alamo City to win their eighth straight game.
The Lakers led by just four points heading to the final quarter but opened the period with a 12-3 run that features a pair of 3-pointers from James and was capped by his assist to JaVale McGee for a dunk. San Antonio never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
Anthony Davis added 19 points, 13 of them in the second half, and 12 rebounds, while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 14, Rajon Rondo hit for 13 points (3-for-3 from beyond the arc), while Troy Daniels and Kyle Kuzma pumped in 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Lakers.
Los Angeles, whose only defeats this year have come to the crosstown-rival Clippers and Toronto, is off to its best start since the 2008-09 season. That was a championship season for the Lakers.
LaMarcus Aldridge paced the Spurs with 30 points, with DeMar DeRozan adding 24, Bryn Forbes scoring 13 and Derrick White hitting for 11 for San Antonio, which has lost nine of 10 games and four straight at home.
The Spurs led, 56-54, at the half as Aldridge, with 16 points, and DeRozan, with 12, paced San Antonio over the first two quarters. The Spurs outshot Los Angeles 53.3 percent to 45.8 percent in the first half.
James led the Lakers with 19 points in the first half, while Rondo poured in 10. Davis had just 4 points on 2-of-10 shooting from the floor.
The Spurs led, 77-76, with 2:42 to play in the third quarter before Los Angeles rattled off eight of the ensuing nine points and took an 86-82 advantage heading to the fourth quarter.
Los Angeles has already defeated the Spurs twice in the first quarter of the season, both times in San Antonio.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
