Lakers crush the Rockets, led by Anthony Davis' 40-point video game

HOUSTON (AP)-- Anthony Davis scored 40 points, LeBron James had 18 points, 11 helps and 10 rebounds to tie Jason Kidd for 4th location with his 107th triple-double and the Lakers beat the Houston Rockets 134-109 on Sunday night.

The Lakers (40-38) moved 2 video games over.500 and into a tie for seventh with the New Orleans Pelicans in the Western Conference with four games to go. Los Angeles has won 6 of its last 7 games and owns the tiebreaker over the Pelicans.

Davis scored 27 in the very first half en route to his first 40-point performance considering that scoring 55 versus the Washington Wizards on Dec. 4 and his 3rd of the season. James played just 29 minutes.

Lakers starter D'Angelo Russell, acquired in a three-team trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves on Feb. 9, did not return to play in the second half due to left foot discomfort. Russell had six points, four helps and three rebounds in 15 minutes.

In his 13 games with the Lakers, Russell had been averaging 18 points, 6.5 assists and 3 rebounds.

Alperen Sengun notched his third straight double-double for the Rockets with 18 points and 15 rebounds, Jalen Green scored 24 points and Kevin Porter Jr. broke in 20 points. Prior to this stretch, Sengun had one double-double over the previous nine video games played.

The Lakers owned a 70-60 halftime lead, which the Rockets cut to six with 9:38 to go in the 3rd quarter on a reverse layup by Green.
With 30.3 seconds left in the third quarter, James got a roar from the Lakers fans with an emphatic one-handed tomahawk dunk to bring the Lakers' lead back to 16. That was a part of a 20-7 run by Los Angeles to extend the lead to 117-90 with 7:56 to go.

TIP-INS

Lakers: Rui Hachimura scored 20 points and had a season-high 12 rebounds ... Austin Reaves scored 16 points ... Malik Beasley scored 13 points off the bench.

Rockets: All 5 starters scored in double digits. ... Rockets coach Stephen SIlas received a technical nasty with 8:30 left in the game ... Houston Texans brand-new coach DeMeco Ryans was presented prior to the game and did the Rockets "First Shot".

UP NEXT

Lakers: Visit the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night.