Anthony Davis scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and LeBron James added 21 points, nine assists and eight rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied for a 100-95 victory over the visiting Phoenix Suns on Thursday.
The contest was the Lakers’ home opener.
D’Angelo Russell scored 14 points and Austin Reaves had 10 for Los Angeles, which rallied from a 12-point deficit through three quarters by outscoring the Suns 28-11 in the final period.
Phoenix did not score a point for a seven-minute stretch in the fourth quarter as the Lakers moved in front.
Kevin Durant produced 39 points and 11 rebounds for the Suns, who fell after winning their season opener at Golden State on Tuesday. Phoenix will play its home opener on Saturday against the Utah Jazz.
Eric Gordon scored 15 points for Phoenix, getting the start with Devin Booker (foot) and Bradley Beal (back) both unavailable. Beal has yet to make his Suns debut.
Jordan Goodwin had 14 points for Phoenix and Josh Okogie had 10, while Jusuf Nurkic had nine rebounds to go along with four points.
After Durant tied the game 91-91 on a layup with 1:30 remaining, James made a pair of running layups to give the Lakers a 95-91 lead with 41 seconds to go. Davis sealed the victory by going 4-for-4 at the free-throw line over the final seven seconds.
Durant passed Hakeem Olajuwon and moved into 12th place on the all-time scoring list with 26,949 career points at game’s end. Olajuwon put up 26,946 points in his Hall of Fame career.
After a Durant 3-pointer with 8:53 remaining gave Phoenix an 87-82 lead, the Suns did not score again until Durant sank a pull-up jumper with 1:55 left, pulling the Suns within 91-89.
The Lakers scored the first seven points of the game before the Suns stormed back to lead 30-18 after one quarter. Phoenix was up 52-48 at halftime behind 15 points from Durant.
The Lakers stayed within striking distance through much of the third quarter until a late 11-4 burst gave Phoenix an 84-72 lead heading into the final period.
–Field Level Media
