Anthony Davis scored 43 points and LeBron James added 36 to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 131-122 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night to win the Western Conference first-round series in five games.
Saturday night’s NBA playoff scores
- Trail Blazers 122-131 Lakers – Los Angeles win series 4-1
- Thunder 80-114 Rockets – Houston lead series 3-2
- Magic 104-118 Bucks – Milwaukee win series 4-1
Anthony Davis scored 43 points and LeBron James added 36 to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 131-122 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night to win the Western Conference first-round series in five games.
Davis was 14-of-18 shooting and collected nine rebounds, while James made 14-of-19 shots and recorded 10 rebounds and 10 assists to increase his NBA playoffs 30-point triple-doubles record to 13.
Los Angeles won a playoff series for the first time since beating the Denver Nuggets in the first round in 2012 during Kobe Bryant’s tenure. The Lakers will face the winner of the series between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference semi-finals.
CJ McCollum recorded 36 points and seven assists and Carmelo Anthony added 27 points for the Trail Blazers, who were without Damian Lillard. The five-time All-Star returned to Portland to have his sprained right knee examined.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 14 points and Dwight Howard had 11 for the Lakers, who shot 54.5 per cent from the field, including 14-of-36 from three-point range.
Jusuf Nurkic registered 16 points, 10 rebounds and five steals, Gary Trent Jr also scored 16 points and Anfernee Simons had 13 for Portland.
Portland trailed 100-92 entering the fourth quarter before scoring the first eight points, tying the score on a three-pointer by Simons with 9:46 remaining. The score was knotted again at 109 after a three-pointer by Trent with 6:52 left.
But Caldwell-Pope answered with a 3-pointer 17 seconds later and Davis made a 20-footer to make it 114-109 with 5:11 to play. Trent connected on another three-pointer to pull Portland within two before Davis scored the next nine points, including back-to-back dunks to make it 123-112 with 3:39 left. James added a basket 38 seconds later to end the decisive 11-0 spurt.
SKYSPORTS
