Anthony Davis scored 24 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and blocked three shots to help the Los Angeles Lakers win easily 117-96 against the Boston Celtics on Thursday night.
Austin Reaves scored 23 points and had six assists, while LeBron James added 20 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists for Los Angeles, which won four of their last five games.
Dalton Knecht scored 13 points, Gabe Vincent added 12 points with four 3-pointers, and Rui Hachimura contributed 10 points and seven rebounds for the Lakers.
Kristaps Porzingis scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Celtics, who have split their last 10 games after starting the season with 26 wins in 35 games.
Jaylen Brown had 17 points and eight rebounds, while Jayson Tatum added 16 points, six rebounds, and five assists for Boston, which suffered its largest loss of the season.
Los Angeles led by as many as 28 points and was close to their biggest win margin for the second straight game until Boston’s Jaden Springer hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The referees confirmed Springer got the shot off in time, so the Lakers’ 23-point win over Washington on Monday remains their biggest win.
Los Angeles made 47.2 percent of their shots, including 15 out of 35 from 3-point range.
The Celtics shot 38.5 percent and made 14 out of 41 from behind the arc. Springer scored 10 points for Boston.
The Lakers led by 15 points after the third quarter before James scored six points in a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter, putting Los Angeles up 92-68.
Vincent hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 95-70 with 8:54 left as it became clear that Boston wasn’t going to make a comeback on the second night of a back-to-back.
Earlier in the game, the Lakers led 48-32 after Reaves hit a 3-pointer with 6:48 left in the first half. Hachimura and Knecht made consecutive 3-pointers to increase the lead to 64-43 with 2:01 remaining.
The Lakers were up 67-48 at halftime, with Davis leading the team with 14 points. Porzingis had 17 points in the half for Boston.
Tatum hit two consecutive 3-pointers in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 74-62 with 7:19 left. The Lakers later increased their lead to 18 points with two quick baskets from Jaxson Hayes, and the Celtics were down 83-68 heading into the final quarter.
