Davis leads Lakers, James’ hecklers ejected

LOS ANGELES • It had been nearly two weeks since the Los Angeles Lakers embarked on their seven-game road trip and after another win on Monday night, Anthony Davis has urged his team to continue keeping their spirits up.

He scored 25 points and his fellow forward LeBron James added 21, as the Lakers overpowered the Atlanta Hawks with a hard-fought 107-99 National Basketball Association (NBA) victory to improve to 16-6.

It was also their fifth win since they beat the Milwaukee Bucks on Jan 21 in their first away game during this run.

James pulled down seven rebounds and weighed in with nine assists as well as a clutch three-pointer that gave Los Angeles a 101-97 lead with just over a minute remaining at State Farm Arena.

It was the decisive blow in a game that had been halted midway through the fourth quarter after two female spectators heckled James from courtside. The women were ejected from the Arena.

Davis was satisfied after a victory that left the Lakers firmly on the tail of the Los Angeles Clippers (16-5) and Utah Jazz (15-5), who occupy the top two spots in the Western Conference.

“The last game of a road trip’s always tough and we didn’t want to buy into that ‘being tired, ready-to-go home’ mentality,” he said.

“And (Atlanta) is a good team. They were 10-9 and they came out and played like it. We dropped two already on this road trip which we hate doing, so we wanted to come out and end this trip the right way.”

James, meanwhile, laughed off his incident, revealing that the altercation began after he exchanged words with a male spectator seated next to the women.

“At the end of the day I’m happy fans are back in the building,” he said. “I miss that interaction.

“There was a back and forth between two grown men… And then someone else jumped in and said their piece. But I don’t think they should have been kicked out.”

Trae Young led the Atlanta scorers with 25 points and 16 assists.

Elsewhere, Eric Gordon scored 25 points and led the Rockets’ record three-point barrage as Houston rolled to a 136-106 win over the hosts Oklahoma City Thunder.

He hit five of the Rockets’ franchise-best 28 treys. The team’s previous record for three-pointers in a game was 27 last season, which set an NBA record at the time. The Bucks broke that record earlier this season with 29.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS