LOS ANGELES — LeBron James scored a season-high 56 points and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors 124-116 on Saturday night to snap a four-game losing streak.
James had his third-most points in a regular season game, finishing with at least 50 for the 13th time. He had a career-best 61 for Miami against Charlotte in 2014.
“It’s funny, our (media) guys were following me off the floor tonight going to the locker room and they asked me how it feels to score 56. I said, ‘Right now, I don’t give a damn about the 56. I’m just happy we got the win,’” James said.
James was 19 of 31 from the field, shaking off a blow to his right elbow in the first half. Russell Westbrook added 20 points, and Carmelo Anthony had 14.
“I felt pretty good with my game tonight, every part of the floor, and I was able to make a couple plays to help us win,” James said.
Stephen Curry had 30 for Golden State, and Jordan Poole added 23. The Warriors have lost four straight to drop to third overall in the NBA, a half-game behind Memphis and 8 1/2 games behind Phoenix.
“There’s more games coming, so we’ve got to do this ourselves,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “We got to dig out of the mud, and nobody’s going to help us,”
Anthony completed a three-point play to give the Lakers a 114-112 lead with 3:29 to play, and Malik Monk hit a 3 to extend that lead to five after Austin Reeves stole Curry’s pass. James then threw down a thunderous alley-oop from Monk, who stole the inbound pass after a Los Angeles turnover.
Curry cut it to 119-116 with 1:06 left, but Reeves grabbed the offensive rebound and Anthony hit a corner 3, allowing the Lakers to see it out.
James reached 40 points in the third quarter before putting the Lakers up 100-97 with 7:51 remaining in the game after knocking down three straight 3-pointers.
“He was phenomenal tonight,” Anthony said. “The way that it came, in the rhythm of the game and the flow of the game, us making that comeback and him being a big reason for us coming back and making that run that he did. He just put us on his back tonight.”
Golden State ran over Los Angeles with 42 points in the second quarter to take a 67-62 halftime lead. Poole and Kuminga each had eight points, Curry added seven, and the Warriors made 69.6% of their shots from the field (16 of 23) and 75% from 3-point range (6 of 8).
“I thought we had several chances to really break the game open,” Kerr said. “The last two minutes of the first half were kind of a disaster, frankly. And then we built the lead back up to maybe 12 early in the third quarter, and the next few minutes were terrible. This has been a pattern during this bad spell for us. We’re not stepping on teams when they are down. We’re making mistakes and allowing teams to hang around, and when you do that in this league you’re dead.”
James, who got 26 points in the half, was the reason the Lakers were able to hang around. It was his 24th straight game with at least 25 points to extend the longest streak of James’ illustrious career.
TIP-INS
Kuminga finished with 18 points. … Lakers G Avery Bradley returned after missing five games because of a right knee injury. He did not score in 16 minutes … Lakers G Talen Horton Tucker had two points in 18 minutes after not playing against the Clippers on Thursday because of a sprained left ankle. … Super Bowl-winning QB Matthew Stafford of the Los Angeles Rams watched the game from courtside seats with his wife, while longtime Lakers coach Phil Jackson took it in from a suite.
UP NEXT
Warriors: At Denver on Monday night.
Lakers: At San Antonio on Monday night.
MAVERICKS 114, KINGS 113
DALLAS — Dorian Finney-Smith hit a 3-pointer from the right corner with 3.3 seconds left and Dallas, playing without All-Star guard Luka Doncic, overcame a 19-point deficit for the second time this week to beat Sacramento.
Doncic was listed on the injury report as having a left toe sprain.
Spencer Dinwiddie scored a season-high 36 points in his first start for Dallas since being acquired from Washington on Feb. 10. Jalen Brunson added 23 points and assisted on the winning basket, driving the length of the court before passing to Finney-Smith for a 114-111 lead.
The Kings had a chance to tie it in the closing seconds, but Harrison Barnes’ 30-footer went off the rim and Justin Holiday converted the miss for a layup for the game’s final points.
Dallas trailed by 19 at Golden State last Sunday before rallying for a 107-101 victory. The Mavericks have won five straight. De’Aaron Fox matched a career high with 44 points for Sacramento.
HEAT 99, 76ERS 82
MIAMI — Tyler Herro and Jimmy Butler each scored 21 points and Miami pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Philadelphia,
Gabe Vincent scored 16 points and Caleb Martin added 14 for the Heat. They are 11-2 in their last 13 games. Miami was again without Kyle Lowry, who missed his fourth consecutive game because of personal reasons.
Miami went 3-1 on the week against four East contenders, beating Chicago, Brooklyn and now Philadelphia. The only loss was at Milwaukee, a game where the Heat led by 14 midway through the fourth quarter before collapsing.
Joel Embiid finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds for Philadelphia, which held out James Harden on the second night of a back-to-back as he recovers from a left hamstring injury.
HORNETS 123, SPURS 117
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Terry Rozier scored 31 points and Charlotte beat San Antonio, leaving Spurs coach Gregg Popovich a victory short of the tying the NBA record.
San Antonio has lost four straight since beating Washington on Feb. 25 to move Popovich within one of Don Nelson’s record of 1,335 regular-season victories.
LaMelo Ball added 24 points for Charlotte, P.J. Washington and Montrezl Harrell each had 15 and Mason Plumlee had 13 rebounds. The Hornets made 19 of their last 20 free throws.
Keldon Johnson led San Antonio with 33 points, but was limited to five in the second half. Dejounte Murray had 25 points and 10 rebounds.
GRIZZLIES 124, MAGIC 96
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Ja Morant had 25 points and seven assists, Desmond Bane scored 24 points on 10-for-15 shooting and Memphis routed Orlando.
Tyus Jones added 14 points for Memphis. The Grizzlies have won three of four.
Cole Anthony led the Magic with 19 points. Moritz Wagner had 17 points and 11 rebounds.
TIMBERWOLVES 135, TRAIL BLAZERS 121
MINNEAPOLIS — Karl-Anthony Towns had 36 points and 15 rebounds and Minnesota beat short-handed Portland for its fourth straight win.
The Timberwolves are averaging 133.3 points during the stretch and trail Denver by two games for the sixth spot in the Western Conference.
Anfernee Simons had 38 points, including a career-high tying nine 3-pointers, for Portland.