Davis scores 21 points in return as Lakers defeat Spurs

LOS ANGELES(AP) — LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are starting to getkey pieces of their lineup back as he makes his push towardbecoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

Anthony Davisscored 21 points in his return from a right foot injury and RuiHachimura added 12 in his Lakers debut as they bounced back from arough loss to beat the San Antonio Spurs 113-104 on Wednesdaynight.

Davis andHachimura both came off the bench with 4:22 remaining in the firstquarter.

“We were allfiguring out ways we could mix and match. We just wanted to getguys in there,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “With AD coming backand Rui being new, we had to work through some kinks. When we gotsettled into the game, guys had different runs.”

Davis, whomissed 20 games due to a stress injury suffered during the firsthalf of a Dec. 16 game at Denver, came in with 4:22 remaining inthe first quarter. He was 7 of 15 from the field and also had 12rebounds in 26 minutes for his 19th double-double in 26 gamesplayed this season.

“He makes thegame look so easy and takes the pressure off us,” Ham said ofDavis. “He was really being aggressive. I thought he wasphenomenal.”

Davis was alittle tentative his first couple minutes back on the floor. Hemissed his first two shots from the floor and had one point in thefirst quarter, but hit four of his next five and scored nine in thesecond quarter.

“I wastesting the waters at first,” Davis said. “Once I saw the ball gothrough on the second free-throw attempt (in the first quarter), Istarted playing and doing little things to start to get going.”

Davis didgive the fans at Crypto.com Arena a slight scare at the end of thethird quarter when he went down while being fouled on a 3-pointattempt near midcourt. While Ham said he nearly fainted when he sawthe play, Davis quickly bounced up and said he felt fine.

Hachimura,acquired from Washington on Monday, said he looked over some playsand the defense Wednesday morning as well as getting plenty offeedback from coach and players during the game. It definitelyhelped as the forward had six points during a fourth-quarter runwhen the Lakers took control.

“This wasonly one game, but I think it is going to be great,” Hachimurasaid.

James — whohad 46 points in the Lakers’ 133-115 loss to the Clippers onTuesday night — had 20 points, tied a season high with 11 assistsand fell one rebound shy of a triple-double.

James trailsKareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points) by just 157 points. Los Angelesgoes on a five-game road trip with their next game at home beingFeb. 7 against Oklahoma City.

PatrickBeverley scored a season-high 18 as the Lakers improved to 8-5 inJanuary.

KeldonJohnson had 25 points and Zach Collins scored 16 for San Antonio,which has won just five times in 22 road games.

The Lakerstrailed 85-81 early in the fourth quarter before they took controlwith a 22-6 run over a span of nearly six minutes.

Los Angeles’largest lead would be 14 late in the quarter as it swept thefour-game season series.

“We’re makinga lot of young-type mistakes,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Itwas a two-point game with eight minutes to go and at that point wecouldn’t make a shot. The effort was there. We need to work oneverything that we need to shore up and that’s a lot of differentareas. We can’t get frustrated.”

TIP-INS

Spurs:Dropped to 3-6 in the first game of a back-to-back. ... SanAntonio’s largest lead was 10 with 8:33 remaining in the secondquarter. ... Collins received a Flagrant 1 with 0.2 secondsremaining in the third quarter when Davis tried a 3-pointer fromhalfcourt. He received a Flagrant 2 earlier in the season, whichputs him at three points. Players start serving suspensions whenthey exceed five points.

Lakers:Improved to 4-4 on second game of a back-to-back. ... RussellWestbrook, who scored 14 points, received his second Flagrant 1foul of the season late in the first quarter.