NBA: James scores 38 as Lakers top Pacers

LeBron James scored a game-high 38 points as the Los Angeles Lakers started big and finished strong while outlasting the visiting Indiana Pacers for a 104-96 victory Thursday.

The Lakers opened with a 13-0 lead and had a 38-15 advantage after one quarter before the Pacers started to rally. Indiana held a brief lead in the third quarter, erasing a 24-point deficit, but the Lakers turned it on again to finish off the win.

Domantas Sabonis scored 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds off the bench for the Pacers, while Bojan Bogdanovic added 14 points. Indiana shot just 5 of 25 (20 percent) from the field in the first quarter, missing both of its 3-point shots in the opening 12 minutes.

Brandon Ingram scored 14 points and Josh Hart had 13 for the Lakers, who closed out the third quarter on a 17-6 run after Indiana took a 69-66 lead on a Tyreke Evans 3-pointer. James contributed nine rebounds and seven assists.

The Pacers pulled within a point at 89-88 with just under five minutes remaining on a jump shot from Sabonis. However, James subsequently scored six consecutive points -- a 3-pointer and a three-point play -- and the Lakers were never threatened again.

Thaddeus Young had 11 points for the Pacers, while Cory Joseph and Doug McDermott had 10 each. McDermott was coming off consecutive games of 21 points as the Pacers saw their brief two-game win streak come to an end.

The Pacers were nearly as dominating in the second quarter as the Lakers were in the first, outscoring Los Angeles 35-18 while going 6 of 10 from 3-point range, while the Lakers were 0 of 6 from long distance in the quarter.

The Lakers were aggressive from the outset two days after they were dominated at Denver in a 117-85 defeat to the Nuggets. The Thursday victory ended a brief two-game slide for the Lakers, which came after they had won 9 of 11 games.

James has scored at least 35 points four times this season, and he topped 30 points for the third time in the past six games.

Kyle Kuzma and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 11 points each for the Lakers.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

NBA: Aldridge powers Spurs past Pacers

LaMarcus Aldridge scored a game-high 33 points and added 14 rebounds Friday night for the San Antonio Spurs, who never trailed in beating the host Indiana Pacers, 111-100 in Indianapolis.

The Spurs snapped a two-game losing streak with just their third win in the last 10 games. 

The Pacers have lost two straight, both of which they have played without star Victor Oladipo, who has missed three consecutive contests with a sore right knee.

The double-double was the 11th of the season for Aldridge. Rudy Gay also had a double-double for the Spurs with 11 points and 12 rebounds. 

DeMar DeRozan (16 points), Patty Mills (15 points) and Bryn Forbes (13 points) also scored at least 10 points apiece for San Antonio.

Domantas Sabonis had 19 points and a game-high 16 rebounds for the Pacers, who were led in scoring by Bojan Bogdanovic (21 points). 

Cory Joseph added 18 points while Thaddeus Young finished with 12 points and Aaron Holiday and T.J. Leaf each chipped in with 11 points.

The Spurs scored the first six points of the game, the final four of which were collected by Aldridge. 

San Antonio led by as many as 13 (25-12) in the first quarter before the Pacers went on an 11-1 run in which Joseph scored five points.

A Bogdanovic jumper closed the gap to four points at 45-41 with 2:04 left in the second quarter, but Indiana got no closer as the Spurs ended the half on a 9-4 run to take a 54-45 lead into the locker room.

The Spurs embarked upon a 9-0 run early in the third quarter, a stretch that included a layup by Aldridge which gave them a double-digit lead for good at 58-47. 

San Antonio extended its lead to 20 for the first time on a layup by Mills with 5:44 left.

The Pacers stirred in the fourth quarter, when a dunk by Leaf closed the Spurs lead to 91-80. 

But Gay (five points) and Forbes (a 3-pointer) combined for an 8-0 run and San Antonio was never threatened again.

source: news.abs-cbn.com