D’ANGELO Russell scored 28 points, LeBron James added 24 as the Los Angeles Lakers extended their winning streak to four with a 116-97 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Anthony Davis added 22 points and 13 rebounds as the Lakers improved to 45-33 with their ninth win in 10 games.
They are still in position to earn a spot in the play-in tournament, but a seventh or eighth-place finish means they only need to win one game to earn a playoff berth.
“We’re very confident in our club. We laugh about like, oh, winning nine out of 10 games, you know, 10 out of 11 games, whatever, and we get nothing. That’s how good the West is,” Davis said.
This is the first time since December 29 that the Lakers are eighth in the conference. With four regular season games remaining, coach Darvin Ham is focused not on seeding but on the Lakers having momentum heading into the postseason.
“Take care of ourselves. Continue to look for ways to be better individually and collectively. Everything else will fall into place,” Darvin said.
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“We’ll fall right where we need to, but the key is we have to play at a high level on both sides of the ball,” he added.
Darius Garland scored 26 points for Cleveland and Caris LeVert scored 21 points off the bench.
In other games, Jamal Murray returned from his right knee injury after missing seven games and scored 16 points and six assists in 21 minutes in the Denver Nuggets’ 142-110 win over the Atlanta Hawks.
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He didn’t play in the fourth quarter as did Nikola Jokic, who still recorded his 25th triple-double of the season, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who added a season-high 24 points.
Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic said Murray’s presence was a game changer.
“He’s an incredible player. He and Jokic are the best duo in the league and it’s hard to guard them. When Jokic needs to find someone to score, he has Murray and that’s basically who he is,” Bogdan said. (NBA/Z-3)
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