LeBron James on Tuesday made a winning start to his NBA-record 23rd season, returning after a near one-month injury absence in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 140-126 victory over the Utah Jazz.
James, 40, missed the Lakers’ first 14 games of the season with sciatica, but was quickly back into his rhythm before finishing with 11 points, 12 assists and three rebounds.
There was still time for James to bring up another milestone, his two three-pointers taking him past Reggie Miller for sixth place on the NBA’s all-time regular season three-pointers list.
Photo: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images/USA Today
Luka Doncic, who led the Lakers scoring with 37 points, welcomed James’ return to the lineup.
“It’s been a long time since he played basketball, so I think for the first game back, he looked amazing,” Doncic said. “He’s gonna keep getting his rhythm, and he’s gonna help us a lot.”
Doncic was backed with 26 points from Austin Reaves, while Deandre Ayton added 20. Utah led by 11 points during the second quarter, but were blown away in the third as the Lakers poured in 37 points to open up a sizeable double-digit lead heading into the final frame.
Meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons stretched their longest win streak since 2008 to 11 games with a 120-112 victory in Atlanta, Georgia, snapping the Hawks’ five-game win streak.
The Pistons, who lead the NBA Eastern Conference at 13-2, got 25 points and 10 assists from Cade Cunningham and 24 points with eight rebounds from Jalen Duren.
Jalen Johnson sparked Atlanta (9-6) with 25 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
At Brooklyn, Jaylen Brown scored 29 points and Payton Pritchard added 22 and 10 rebounds to spark the Boston Celtics in a 113-99 victory over the Nets.
Desmond Bane scored 23 points and reserve Anthony Black added 21 to lead the Orlando Magic over visiting Golden State 121-113.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors (9-7) with 34 points while Jimmy Butler added 33 in a losing cause.
At San Antonio, De’Aaron Fox scored 20 of his 26 points in the second half, and Harrison Barnes added 23 to spark the host Spurs over Memphis 111-101.
The Spurs (10-4) were without star big man Victor Wembanyama because of a left calf strain and guard Stephon Castle with a left hip flexor strain while Memphis star guard Ja Morant was sidelined by a right calf strain.
“We’re trying to do this as a collective. There’s no replacing Vic,” Barnes said. “Were just trying to find ways to win, share the ball, move the ball, that’s how we’ll do that.”
Barnes scored the first seven points in an 11-0 game-closing run to secure the victory.
“Harrison Barnes carried us through this. That’s just what a vet does,” Fox said. “It felt great winning the game with all the guys we have out.”
“We have a team, and we know that when one guy goes down, we have a number of guys that can step up. No one guy will take up the slack for one being out,” Fox added.
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