Lakers 107, Nets 101
LOS ANGELES -- Rookie point guard D'Angelo Russell scored a career-high 39 points, and the Los Angeles Lakers snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 107-101 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night at Staples Center.
Russell converted 14 of 21 shots from the floor and eight of 12 3-pointers. It was the most points scored by a Lakers first-year player during a regular-season game.
Los Angeles guard Jordan Clarkson had 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, and center Roy Hibbert and forward Julius Randle added 14 points apiece. Randle also collected 13 rebounds.
Nets center Brook Lopez scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds before fouling out with 2:43 remaining in the contest. Forward Thaddeus Young contributed 19 points and 15 rebounds, while forward Bojan Bogdanovic chipped in 18 points and seven rebounds.
Lakers forward Kobe Bryant sat out with a sore right shoulder. It was the second consecutive game he missed and 12th of the season.
Two free throws and a dunk by Young sliced the Lakers' margin to 95-94 with 1:50 left before Clarkson made it a three-point advantage 22 seconds later.
Russell's seventh 3-pointer pushed the lead to 100-94 with 53.2 seconds remaining. Guard Wayne Ellington, a former Laker, hit a 3-pointer to make it a three-point game again, but Russell answered with his final trey for a six-point edge with 30.8 seconds left for a 103-97 edge.
Forward Brandon Bass, Randle and Russell canned free throws in the final 24 seconds to clinch the win.
Los Angeles led 58-50 at halftime.
In the third quarter, the Lakers led by as much as 12 before the Nets rallied. After a 3-pointer by Russell gave the Lakers a 71-59 advantage with 6:04 left in the period, the Nets put together a 13-2 run to pull within 73-72 on a three-point play by Lopez at 1:40.
However, a pair of 3-pointers by Young and Clarkson allowed Los Angeles to take a 79-74 lead heading into the final quarter.
Lakers guard Lou Williams sustained a moderate left hamstring strain and did not return after scoring six points in 10 minutes. Williams did not accompany the team to Denver, where the Lakers play the Nuggets on Wednesday night.
NOTES: Lakers F Kobe Bryant (sore right shoulder) is expected to return for Wednesday's game against the Nuggets in Denver. "He wants to rest just a little bit more and try to give it a go tomorrow," Lakers coach Byron Scott said. ... Los Angeles F Larry Nance Jr., who has been nursing a sore right knee for much of the season, will sit out the Denver game. Scott said Nance will be held out of back-to-back games for the rest of the season. ... Brooklyn C Brook Lopez, who was born in North Hollywood, averaged 24.1 points per game in 11 previous meetings against the Lakers, the highest output by any Nets player ever. ... The Nets visit the Nuggets on Friday in the sixth stop on a nine-game road swing.