Luka Dončić scored 14 points in limited duty to help make his highly-anticipated Los Angeles Lakers debut a winning🦂 one, as his new team rolled to a 132-113 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday. ()
Doncic played 24 minutes in his firs🐽t game activity of any kind since the 2023-24 NBA MVP finalist strained his left calf with the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day. The Slovenian superstar added five rebounds and four assists in the surging Lakers' sixth&🔜nbsp;straight win and 10th in their last 11 games.
The Lakers acquired Doncic o💃n Feb. 2 in a stunning mid-season 🌱blockbuster trade with the Mavericks that sent 10-time All-Star forward Anthony Davis from Los Angeles to Dallas.
LeBron James had 24 points, eight assists and seven rebounds before also sitting out the majority of the fourth quarter alongside his new star teammate with the Lakers comfortably ahead of the lowly Jazz, who fell to 2-12 s🥃ince Jan. 15.
Austin Reaves contributed 22 points and nine rebounds to the Lakers' latest🧜 triumph, while Rui Hachimura ended with 21 points.
Lauri Markkanen and🍃 John Collins paced the Jazz with 17 points each. Collins pulled down 11 rebounds as well, while Walker Kessler grabbed 12 boards to go along with 13 point𒅌s.
Doncic recorded fiveꦜ points in seven minutes in the first quarter to help the Lak♚ers, who shot 63.6 per cent from the field for the period, build a 37-25 advantage after 12 minutes of play. He scored six more in the second quarter as Los Angeles increased its lead to as many as 25 points before coasting into the break ahead by a commanding 72-47 score.
The five-time All-Star went just 1 of 5 from the field in the third quarter, th♍ough the Jazz never mouℱnted a threat as the Lakers were up by 20 points or more throughout the second half until Utah had the game's final basket.
Curry helps Warriors pull away from Bucks
Stephen Curry scored 23 of his season high-tyin𒐪g🐈 38 points in the second half to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 125-111 victory over the weary Milwaukee Bucks.
The Warriors moved to 2-0 since obtaining six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat by drawing clear over 🐓the final 10 minutes. Butler finished with 20 points despite a 4-of-12 effort from the field, as he went 12 of 15 from the free-throw line while adding nine rebounds and six assists.
Playing for the second time in as many nights and again without injured star Giannis Anteto💧kounmpo, Milwaukee lost for the sixth time in eight games despite 38 points from Damian Lillard. The Bucks also received 21 points from the recently acquired Kyle Kuzma and 19 points and eight rebou🔯nds from Taurean Prince.
The short-handed Bucks battled back from a 58-51 half-time deficit to take a 75-74 lea💮d on AJ Green's 3-pointer with 4:24 left in the🍰 third quarter, but Butler scored the period's final six points to send the Warriors into the fourth with an 89-83 lead.
Golden State then pulled away in the final period behind Curry and reserve Quinten Post, who𝐆 recorded 11 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter while making all th♑ree of his shots from beyond the arc.
Back-to-back triples from Curry and Post highlighted a 13-1 run that sealed the outcome, with the spurt staking the Warriors to a commanding 114-95 advantage with five 🦋minutes𝓰 left.
Nuggets roll to seventh straight win behind Jokic's 40 points
Nikola Jokić poured in 40 po💧ints in just three quarter♔s of play as the red-hot Denver Nuggets cruised to their seventh consecutive win, a 146-117 rout of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Denver shot a season-best 65.9 per cent from the field and dominated the Trail Blazers inside to post its fifth straight victory by 12 or more points. The Nuggets outscored Portland by a whopping 88-46 margin in the paint, wit🎉h Jokic and Christian Braun doing most of the damage.
Braun finished with ♐26 points on 12-of-14 shooting, while Jokic added seven rebounds and eight assists꧒. Jamal Murray was on the mark as well, making seven of his 10 shots while compiling 17 points and eight assists before being ejected early in the fourth quarter for a second technical foul.
The Trail Blazers entered Monday's matchup having ꧋won 10 of 12, but fell behind early and never could 𓆏match the Nuggets' shooting prowess.
Rookie Donovan Clingan did make 𓆏all of his eight field goal attempts, howevওer, while putting up 21 points for Portland. Dalano Banton led the Blazers with 22 points.
The Nuggets began the game on a 19-7 run and shot a scorching 75 per cent in the first quarter to take a 38-27 lead into the second. They maintained a double-digit advantage through much of the next quarter as well to pull into the break with a 70-55 lead as Jokic racke🥂d up 25 first-half points.
Portland got🍨 the deficit down to seven points early in the third quarter, but Jokic had seven points during a 12-2 flurry that gave♉ Denver plenty of breathing room as its lead stretched to 99-80 with 3 1/2 minutes left in the period.
The Nuggets coasted t😼he rest of the way, with their margin growing as large as 32 points in the fourth quarter.
