Harden, Harris lead streaking Nets past Lakers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Harden scored 23 points, Joe Harris added 21 with six 3-pointers and the Brooklyn Nets routed the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers 109-98 Thursday night for their season-best fifth straight victory.

Kyrie Irving had 16 points and seven rebounds as Brooklyn easily won this matchup of NBA title contenders and improved to 4-0 on a five-game West Coast road trip even without Kevin Durant, who missed his third straight game with a strained left hamstring.

Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 15 points and hit five of the 18 3-pointers by the Nets, who pulled away comfortably in the second half.

Anthony Davis and Dennis Schröder sat out for Los Angeles, leaving the defending champions without two of their top three scorers.

LeBron James scored his 35,000th career point while getting 32 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Lakers. Kyle Kuzma added 16 points and 10 rebounds for Los Angeles, which lost for only the second time in 10 games.

Davis missed his second straight game after aggravating his strained right calf and Achilles last weekend. The Lakers also played without Schröder, a late scratch under the NBA’s health and safety protocols.

Along with their longest overall winning streak in two years, the Nets have won four straight road games for the first time since December 2008. They’ve also got seven straight wins over Western Conference opponents for their longest streak since November 2006, and their three straight wins over the Lakers at Staples Center is the longest run in franchise history.

TIP-INS

Nets: DeAndre Jordan had seven points and eight rebounds in the longtime Clippers center’s latest return to Staples Center. ... Brooklyn improved to 10-1 against teams above .500.

Lakers: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored nine points on his 28th birthday. ... Wesley Matthews went to the locker room in the second quarter after a collision with Landry Shamet.

LEBRON’S MILESTONE

James became the third player in NBA history with 35,000 points on a free throw in the final minute of the first half. Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) and Karl Malone (36,928) had hit the milestone previously, and both Hall of Famers were older at the time than James, who was also the youngest in NBA history to 5,000 points, 10,000 points, 20,000 points and 30,000 points.

James also recorded his 30th straight game with at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists, matching the NBA record shared by himself in 2018 and Oscar Robertson in 1964.

James received his 17th consecutive All-Star invitation earlier in the day and was named a captain for the game, along with Durant.

UP NEXT

Nets: Visit Clippers on Sunday.

Lakers: Host Heat on Saturday.

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