HOUSTON — Luka Doncic scored 36 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 100-92 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday (Tuesday in Manila) in the opener of a two-game series between teams fighting for Western Conference playoff position.
Los Angeles moved 1 1/2 games ahead of Houston for third in the West standings. There were 13 lead changes in a game that had a playoff atmosphere, but the Lakers ultimately won their sixth straight.
LeBron James found Marcus Smart for a corner three-pointer that put Los Angeles up 94-90 with two minutes remaining. James finished with 18 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Doncic hit back-to-back three-pointers in the fading minutes of the third quarter to give the Lakers an 83-80 lead after trailing 57-51 at halftime. Doncic was 4 for 12 on 3s in the game and needs 11 more to match D’Angelo Russell’s franchise record of 226 in a season.
Doncic had his sixth straight game with 30 or more points but fell just short of his 12th 40-point game this season. He went 14 for 27 from the field.
Jabari Smith Jr. led Houston with 22 points. Amen Thompson had 19 and Kevin Durant added 18 for the Rockets, who committed 24 turnovers compared with just 12 for Los Angeles.
Houston was without Alperen Sengun, who was dealing with lower back pain. Sengun is averaging 20.2 points, second only to Durant for the Rockets.
The Rockets took the first meeting between the two teams this season, 119-96, in Los Angeles on Dec. 25.
Celtics 120, Suns 112
In Boston, Jaylen Brown had 18 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter and Jayson Tatum scored 21 in his fifth game back from an Achilles tendon injury to help the Boston Celtics beat the Phoenix Suns.
Devin Booker scored 40 for the Suns, who have lost back-to-back games after snapping a four-game winning streak. Jalen Green scored 21 for Phoenix.
Derrick White, who was presented with February’s Eastern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Month Award before the game, had 21 points for Boston, and Payton Pritchard scored 19.
Boston trailed by three points, 111-108, with less than four minutes left before Brown stole the ball from Booker and fed it to Tatum for a layup. After a Phoenix miss, Brown rebounded Tatum’s miss to give Boston the lead and then added two free throws and a short jumper to complete an 8-0 Celtics run.
Boston scored 12 of the game’s last 13 points to pull away.
Phoenix lost to Toronto on Friday after giving up a 23-5 run in the fourth quarter to blow a 10-point lead.
Tatum missed Boston’s first 62 games while recovering from a torn Achilles suffered in last year’s playoffs. He returned on March 6, played three games, sat one out and now has played more than 32 minutes in back-to-back games.
Hawks 124, Magic 112
In Atlanta, Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored a career-high 41 points, Jalen Johnson had his 13th triple-double of the season and the Atlanta Hawks rolled past the Magic, extending their winning streak to 10 games and snapping Orlando’s at seven.
The Hawks improved to 38-31 and reclaimed eighth place in the Eastern Conference, bumping Philadelphia back to ninth.
Johnson had 24 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists in his second straight triple-double. Dyson Daniels added 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Paolo Banchero had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Magic. Desmond Bane also added 18 points.The Magic were without Anthony Black (left lateral abdominal strain), Jonathan Isaac (left knee sprain) and Franz Wagner (left high ankle sprain; injury management).
Jonathan Kuminga was available for just his fifth game since joining Atlanta in February while dealing with a bone bruise. Kuminga added seven points and eight rebounds.
