Avery Bradley’s heroics lift Lakers to OT win over Raptors

Avery Bradley hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 32.5 seconds to play in overtime, then added two free throws as the visiting Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Toronto Raptors 128-123 Friday night.

Russell Westbrook had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Lakers, including the tying 3-pointer to force overtime.

Bradley finished with 14 points and LeBron James led the Lakers with 36 points as they ended a three-game losing streak. They had lost their 11 previous road games.

Toronto took the lead with 26.1 seconds to play in regulation on Gary Trent Jr.'s 3-pointer, but Westbrook tied it at 116 with a 3-pointer with 0.9 seconds left.

Austin Reaves made two free throws to give the Lakers a two-point lead with 1:49 left in overtime. Trent tied it on a layup. Pascal Siakam made one of two foul shots with 51.8 seconds to play, but Bradley made the crucial 3-pointer and, with 12.6 seconds to go in overtime, made two free throws.

Wenyen Gabriel scored 17 points for the Lakers and Reaves had 10.

Scottie Barnes had 31 points and 17 rebounds for the Raptors, who had a five-game win streak end. Trent had 23 points, Fred VanVleet had 20, Precious Achiuwa scored 18 and Siakam 17.

Toronto took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter. The score was tied at 99 on a layup by James with 7:39 to play.

Reaves made a 3-pointer to give L.A. the lead with 6:48 left. Trent tied the game with a layup with 4:15 to go. Barnes made a dunk to put Toronto ahead by two with 3:03 remaining. James answered with a 3-pointer, but Barnes made a layup and a free throw to give Toronto a two-point lead. James tied it with a jumper.

The Lakers led 33-30 after one quarter.

Toronto finished the first half on a 7-0 run to trim the lead to 59-55.

Chris Boucher's put-back layup gave Toronto an 89-88 lead after three quarters.

The Lakers were without Carmelo Anthony and Wayne Ellington because of non-Covid illness and Talen Horton-Tucker (sprained ankle). The Raptors were without OG Anunoby (broken finger).

-reuters

NBA: Lakers’ Davis (ankle) out 2 weeks, report says

Lakers forward Anthony Davis is expected to be sidelined at least two weeks after sustaining a right ankle sprain in Los Angeles' 106-101 win against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, ESPN reported.

Per the Lakers, Davis underwent X-rays on Wednesday that revealed no fracture. He has an MRI scheduled for Thursday, and the team announced he will be re-evaluated after the upcoming All-Star break.

Davis was pulling down a rebound in the air when his right foot landed on the heel of Utah's Rudy Gobert. Davis' right ankle rolled, sending him immediately to the floor.

After a visit from team medical staff, Davis was helped off the court, unable to put weight on his right foot. He collected 17 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in 17 minutes before leaving.

"Win games until we get him back," Lakers coach Frank Vogel told reporters. "It's that simple. We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We don't know obviously how long it will be, but we gotta win as many games as we can down the stretch and believe in the group that we have. And hopefully we're able to get whole as quickly as possible."

The Lakers (27-31) return to action on February 25 against the visiting Los Angeles Clippers.

It has been an injury-plagued season for the 8-time All-Star, who had been listed as probable for Wednesday's game with a wrist injury. Davis had just returned January 23 from a 17-game absence because of a knee injury. He also missed significant time last season with separate calf and knee injuries.

Davis, 28, is averaging 23.1 points and 9.7 rebounds in 37 games this season. He has averaged 23.8 points and 10.2 rebounds in 601 career games (596 starts).

-reuters

Expect fireworks as Lakers, Warriors open NBA 75

Two teams balancing early-season transitions and late-season title aspirations share the national spotlight Tuesday on NBA Opening Night when the Golden State Warriors visit the Los Angeles Lakers.

The duel of the only Western Conference franchises to win NBA titles since 2014 is a rematch of a historic meeting last May, when the Lakers beat the Warriors 103-100 at home in the opener of the league's first-ever play-in tournament.

Fighting through blurred vision that resulted from getting poked in the eye earlier in the game, LeBron James hit the game-clinching 3-pointer in the final minute in that one, and later declared, "I was seeing three rims and shot at the middle one."

Much has changed since the night when James put up a 22-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist triple-double, which was barely enough to offset a 37-point night by Golden State's Stephen Curry.

The Lakers have retained just three players from that team that went on to lose to the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the Western playoffs. And one of those three -- Talen Horton-Tucker -- won't suit up for the opener because of a thumb injury.

James and superstar sidekick Anthony Davis are now surrounded by the likes of Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, DeAndre Jordan, Rajon Rondo and Dwight Howard, the latter two having returned to the team after playing elsewhere last season.

An 0-6 preseason, which included two losses to Golden State, didn't surprise James.

"We're going to have moments where we're not quite right there," he admitted. "We may take steps backward. I think nothing is worth having if it's not worth working for."

The Warriors return six of the eight who got minutes in the season-ending loss, but still are without All-Star guard Klay Thompson, who continues to rehab an Achilles injury that cost him the entire 2021 season, and big man James Wiseman, who is close to returning from a torn meniscus in his knee.

Golden State gave itself a chance in the play-in game by hitting 15 of its 34 3-point attempts, and the Lakers would be wise to expect more of the same this time around.

After setting a franchise record by averaging 38.7 3-point attempts last season, the Warriors went crazy from beyond the arc in the offseason, putting up a whopping 63.2 a night.

Curry hit 17 of his 42 from deep in his four games, but that wasn't even the most encouraging part for the Warriors. Jordan Poole hit 16 treys over five games, while newcomers Otto Porter Jr. (55.2%) and Nemanja Bjelica (44.4%) combined to make 24 in 47 attempts.

The Warriors went 5-0 in the preseason, capped by a 41-point explosion by Curry in a 22-point romp over Portland in Friday's finale.

Golden State coach Steve Kerr stamped his guys ready to go, especially Curry, the league's reigning scoring champ.

"He's been building up perfectly from before camp started to all of the training over the summer to now," Kerr said of Curry. "He's clearly ready to roll for the regular season. He's in a great place."

In opening the NBA's 75th season, the Warriors and Lakers are opening in Los Angeles for the first time since 1982. Times have changed: That game featured a total of nine 3-point attempts and only two were successful: One by LA's Mike McGee and the other by the Warriors' Joe Hassett.

World B. Free led Golden State with 30 points as the Warriors recorded a 132-117 victory over the defending NBA champions who were led by future Hall of Famers Magic Johnson (22 points), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (20 points) and James Worthy (20 points)

__World B. Free led Golden State with 30 points as the Warriors recorded a 132-117 victory over the defending NBA champions who were led by future Hall of Famers Magic Johnson (22 points), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (20 points) and James Worthy (20 points

--reuters

NBA: Red-hot Jazz heap another loss on Lakers

Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley each flirted with triple-doubles and Jordan Clarkson scored 18 points in his customary role off the bench as the red-hot Utah Jazz smashed the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-89, Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.

Conley finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in the wake of being snubbed as an All-Star reserve, while Mitchell totaled 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in his first game since earning a second spot in the All-Star Game.

Rudy Gobert, also named to his second All-Star team, added 18 points with nine rebounds as the Jazz to their 22nd win in 24 games. It was also the 20th time in the spurt that they have won by double digits.

Bojan Bogdanovic added 15 points -- all on 3-pointers for Utah, which has the best record in franchise history to begin a season (26-6) and the NBA's best mark so far.

LeBron James scored 19 points but didn't have much help in the Lakers' most lopsided loss of the season. Los Angeles, playing without Anthony Davis and Dennis Schroder, lost their fourth straight and fell for the fifth time in six games.

The game was competitive in the first quarter, but the Jazz blew it open in the second quarter by outscoring the Lakers, 39-24. 

Utah put it away with a 27-17 third-quarter advantage, holding Los Angeles to its lowest point total in a quarter this season.

The Lakers are hoping to get Schroder back for Friday's home game against Portland. He has been sidelined for four games due to NBA health and safety protocols.

Only two other players scored in double figures for the Lakers: Montrezl Harrell (16 points) and Markieff Morris (12).

Derrick Favors added 12 points for Utah.

Utah made 22 3-pointers after draining a franchise-record 28 in beating Charlotte on Monday.

-reuters

LeBron vs Warriors headlines NBA's Christmas lineup

There's no NBA Finals rematch this year on Christmas. Not technically, anyway. It's LeBron James vs. the Golden State Warriors for the fourth consecutive year on December 25, though James will be wearing a Los Angeles Lakers uniform this time.

It was a predictable matchup.

It isn't, however, a break from tradition.


That's one of the biggest misnomers about the NBA and the schedule. An NBA Finals rematch is not common, not the norm, not a guarantee for the last two teams that were standing the previous season. The league has crowned a champion every year since 1947, and the tradition of Christmas Day games started later that same year. (They've been an annual fixture since, with the exception of 1998, when a lockout didn't allow that season to begin until February.)

But there have been only nine NBA Finals rematches on December 25. The recent Golden State-Cleveland history may make it seem like more.

James has been in five Finals rematches on Christmas, all since 2011: Miami vs. Dallas that year, Oklahoma City vs. Miami the following year, and Cleveland vs. Golden State in each of the last three years.

The other four rematches on the holiday: Orlando vs. Houston in 1995, Philadelphia vs. the Lakers in 2001, San Antonio vs. Detroit in 2005 and Boston vs. the Lakers in 2008.

So instead of a Cavs-Warriors rematch, getting Lakers vs. Warriors — for the first time in the LeBron L.A. era — makes perfect sense.

"Bron is Bron," Warriors forward Draymond Green said. "They're going to be tough, a tough matchup on Christmas Day, but we're looking forward to it."

Inevitably, so will James. Even with the Lakers having lost four of their last six games, they're off to a 19-14 start — their best since the 2011-12 season.

"We've got a long way to go to get to Golden State," James said in September.

He's about to get his first look at how the Lakers measure up with the champs.

Christmas lineup

Tuesday's slate starts with Milwaukee at New York, followed by Oklahoma City at Houston, Philadelphia at Boston, the Lakers at the Warriors and then Portland at Utah. It's Milwaukee's first Christmas game since 1977, which will end what was by far the league's longest December 25 drought. Utah hasn't played on Christmas since 1997.

A look at each of the five games:

Bucks at Knicks

Congratulations to the schedule-makers, because there's no way they could have known this Christmas game would be wrapped in animus. Giannis Antetokounmpo was peeved at New York forward Mario Hezonja — who dunked on him, stared at him and then stepped over him when the teams last met on December 1.

Thunder at Rockets

A rematch of a game from Christmas 2017, which the Thunder won 112-107. Oklahoma City is 6-2 on Christmas since the team moved there; when the franchise was in Seattle, it was 0-11 on the holiday. Rockets star Chris Paul will miss Christmas for the third straight year — with the Clippers, he had a left hamstring strain and missed their game with the Lakers in 2016, sat out last year's Houston-OKC game with a groin strain and this year, it's another left hamstring issue that will keep him out.

76ers at Celtics

These are heated, historic rivals, but they've met on Christmas only once before — in 1961, when the 76ers were the Syracuse Nationals. Boston, which famously avoided home Christmas games forever (the Celtics played their first 30 such games away from Boston), will be at home on the holiday for the second consecutive season.

Lakers at Warriors

It's the 20th consecutive Christmas appearance for the Lakers, and with LeBron James there now don't expect that streak to end anytime soon. Warriors star Kevin Durant apparently loves playing on the holiday; he's averaging 31.1 points in his eight previous Christmas games.

Trail Blazers at Jazz

Portland is 14-3 all-time on Christmas, and could tie Miami (10-2) for the best winning percentage on the holiday if it tops the Jazz. Meanwhile, for Utah, it's a chance for Jazz star guard Donovan Mitchell to get his first — but almost certainly not his last — look at playing on Christmas.

Christmas history

The NBA's five-game Christmas lineup is back for an 11th consecutive year, and that may seem like a lot of matchups but has been exceeded plenty of times in the past. There were seven games on the holiday in 1949, 1971 and 1977, as well as six in 1970 and 1976.

And there were some years where everybody played on Christmas.

In 1952, the league had 10 teams so that meant five Christmas games. In 1956, the league's eight teams got together for two Christmas doubleheaders — two games at Madison Square Garden, two others at the War Memorial in Rochester, New York. And in 1959, eight teams meant four games on the holiday again.

With Milwaukee playing, the league's longest Christmas drought will belong to the Atlanta Hawks, who haven't appeared on the holiday since 1989. After the Hawks, the longest droughts will be held by Charlotte (no appearances in 29 seasons), Memphis (no appearances in 24 seasons), Toronto (2001), Sacramento (2003), Indiana (2004) and Detroit (2005).

Everyone else has played at least one Christmas game since 2009.

Year of the 3

Houston set the NBA record for 3-pointers made in a game with 26, doing that against Washington last week.

It cemented that, without question, 2018 in the NBA was the year of the 3-pointer.

So far this season, 11 franchises — Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Golden State, Houston, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New Orleans, New York, Sacramento and Utah — have set or tied team records for 3-pointers made in a regular-season game. That doesn't even take into account Brooklyn, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Oklahoma City and Philadelphia also doing it in 2018, albeit last season.

Maybe the craze hasn't caught on in Canada.

The longest-standing team record for 3s in a game is held by the Toronto Raptors, who made 21 on March 13, 2005. Orlando's mark of 23 has stuck since Jan. 13, 2009 and Phoenix's record of 22 came on Nov. 14, 2010.

Meanwhile, Zaza Pachulia's quest for a 3 continues.

Pachulia has the NBA record for most 3s attempted in a career without a make — the Detroit backup center is now 0 for 29 in the regular season, 0 for 31 when including playoffs. He's 0 for 3 in 2018, though all those tries in this calendar year were desperation heaves from midcourt or deeper. And in fairness, only six of his career 3-point tries have been shots inside of 30 feet.

source: philstar.com