LA Lakers down Detroit Pistons with James' triple-double, 20 blocks
NBA superstar bags his ninth treble of the season in 106-99 victory
LeBron James produced his ninth triple-double of the season yesterday morning (Singapore time) and the Los Angeles Lakers blocked 20 shots on the way to a 106-99 NBA victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Anthony Davis had eight of the Lakers' 20 blocks - which were one shy of the club record set in 1982. JaVale McGee had six and Dwight Howard had five with Avery Bradley adding one.
"It's a remarkable feat," James said of the blocks.
"Dwight, JaVale and AD they make it easy on us and we try to contain a lot of these small quick guards and these rim attackers."
Davis also had 24 points, 11 rebounds and three steals as the Western Conference-leading Lakers repelled a late challenge from the Pistons and remained unbeaten against teams with losing records.
In the fourth quarter, the Lakers led by 11 points with 7:42 remaining, but a 13-1 scoring run put the Pistons up by one point with 4:51 left.
A driving dunk by James restored the Lakers' lead to four with 3:22 remaining, but Derrick Rose's three-pointer whittled the gap again. Davis responded with a three-pointer and Howard produced the Lakers' 20th block of the night as they hung on for a fifth straight win.
"We played a heck of a game," James said.
"They played extremely hard, they were super well-coached and they did a heck of a job of taking us out of a lot of things we wanted to do offensively and we just tried to do the same to them."
Earlier, the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the New York Knicks 135-132 at the Staples Center.
Montrezl Harrell came off the bench to score 34 points, leading a trio of Clippers who scored more than 30.
Paul George and Lou Williams added 32 points each as the Clippers erased the sour taste left by a home loss to the lowly Memphis Grizzlies.
It marked the first time in the club's 50-year history that three players scored at least 30 points. - AFP
OTHER RESULTS:
Miami 122 Portland 111, Cleveland 103 Minnesota 118, Phoenix 114 Memphis 121
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now