TORONTO >> LeBron James scored 23 points, Anthony Davis had 21 points and 12 rebounds and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors 128-111 on Tuesday night for their seventh win in eight games.
D’Angelo Russell shot 7 for 14 from 3-point range and scored 25 points, Rui Hachimura had 14 and Max Christie 12 as the Lakers handed slumping Toronto a 14th straight loss.
The NBA’s career scoring leader, James shot 10 for 12 and had nine assists.
James came in having matched his career high with nine 3-pointers in Sunday’s win at Brooklyn. The 20-time All-Star took just one shot from distance against the Raptors, connecting with 5.22 left in the third quarter.
Davis sat the entire fourth quarter, while James checked out with 9:22 remaining in the final period after Los Angeles extended its lead to 27, 109-82. The Lakers visit the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night.
T’WOLVES 113, ROCKETS 106 >> Naz Reid strengthend his case for the Sixth Man of the Year Award with 25 points and six rebounds, Anthony Edwards scored 19 points and the Timberwolves kept up their push for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
Making his sixth straight start in place of injured Karl-Anthony Towns, Reid breathed life into an initially quiet Target Center crowd. The 6-foot-9 center is averaging 13.1 points and 5.1 rebounds and shooting 40.7% from 3-point range this season, all career highs.
Houston had a seven-game road win streak snapped and has dropped two in a row following 11 straight victories that brought it back into the playoff picture. The Rockets are now two games out of the Western Conference’s final play-in position.
Jalen Green led the Rockets with 26 points, five rebounds and six assists.
WIZARDS 117, BUCKS 113 >> Corey Kispert scored 27 points and Deni Avdija added 23 to help Washington beat Milwaukee despite Giannis Antetokounmpo’s triple-double.
Antetokounmpo had 35 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists and reached double figures in all three categories by the end of the third quarter. That wasn’t enough for Milwaukee, which came into the night with a 2 1/2-game lead over Cleveland for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Jordan Poole had 16 points and a career-high 13 assists for Washington, and Jared Butler provided a lift off the bench with 17 points. Tristan Vukcevic, a 7-foot rookie from Serbia whom the Wizards signed in the middle of last month, scored 14. His previous career high was six.
Washington led 58-54 at halftime, then began the third quarter on a 12-1 run to stretch the lead to 15. Milwaukee shot 11 of 48 from 3-point range on the night, but the Bucks finally made a few near the end of the third, including Jae Crowder’s shot at the buzzer that cut the lead to five.
Sixers 109, Thunder 105 >> Joel Embiid put Philadelphia ahead with four free throws in the final 40 seconds and finished with 24 points in his first game in nine weeks following knee surgery, leading the 76ers over the Oklahoma City.
Embiid added seven assists and six rebounds in nearly 30 minutes — but most important, he brought the confidence that the Sixers can salvage their season and make a postseason run with last season’s MVP in the lineup.
Chet Holmgren scored 22 points to lead the Thunder, who are in a tight race with Minnesota and Denver for the top spot in the Western Conference.
Cavs 129, Jazz 113 >> Caris LeVert scored 26 points and Jarrett Allen had 21 points and 12 rebounds, helping Cleveland beat Utah.
LeVert started in place of Donovan Mitchell, who missed Tuesday’s game due to injury management. Evan Mobley added 21 points for the Cavs, and reserve Sam Merrill had 18 points on six 3-pointers.
Cleveland scored 26 points off 20 Utah turnovers and led wire to wire. It stopped a four-game road losing streak.
Brice Sensabaugh made six 3-pointers and scored 22 points for Utah, matching his season high in his rookie year. Collin Sexton had 19 points and six assists, and Taylor Hendricks added 18 points.
HEAT 109, KNICKS 88 >> Terry Rozier scored 34 points, capped by a beat-the-shot-clock 3-pointer in the final minute, and Miami inched closer to an Eastern Conference playoff spot by holding off New York.
Jimmy Butler scored 17 points, Bam Adebayo added 15 and Haywood Highsmith finished with 14 for the Heat.