Doncic drops 36 as Lakers rally past Grizzlies

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Luka Doncic scored 36 points with nine rebounds and eight assists, LeBron James added 26 points with 10 assists and the Los Angeles Lakers rallied for a 120-114 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night.

Jake LaRavia also scored 26 points against his former team and Deandre Ayton had 15 points as the Lakers earned their second home victory over the Grizzlies in three days. The consecutive victories came after Los Angeles lost four of its previous five contests.

Jaylen Wells scored 23 points for Memphis and rookie Cedric Coward scored 16 points with nine rebounds, all in the first half, but did not play after halftime because of an ankle injury.

Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 14 points and Jock Landale had 13 points with 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who lost their fourth consecutive game.

Memphis guard Ja Morant (calf) was out for 15th time over the past 21 games.

The Lakers trailed by 11 points with just under three minutes remaining in the third quarter before closing the period on an 8-2 run to trail 87-83.

Los Angeles tied it 92-92 on a driving layup by LaRavia with 7:14 remaining then took its first lead since the first quarter at 94-92 on another layup by LaRavia.

The teams traded the lead back and forth before the Lakers took the lead for good at 100-99 on a pullup jumper from Doncic with 5:12 remaining. Consecutive 3-pointers from Doncic put Los Angeles up 112-103 with 2:08 left.

The victory came without Rui Hachimura (calf) for the third consecutive game, while Austin Reaves (calf) missed his fourth consecutive contest.

Up next

Grizzlies: Home against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday

Lakers: At the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday

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AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NBA