LeBron James had 28 points, 12 assists and six rebounds, and the short-handed Los Angeles Lakers clinched home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs with their 101-73 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night.
Luke Kennard scored 19 points and Rui Hachimura added 13 for the Lakers, who will be either the third or fourth seed in the Western Conference despite finishing the regular season without injured stars Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Los Angeles (52-29) is one game behind third-place Denver (53-28) with one game left, but LA holds the tiebreaker over the Nuggets.
The Lakers won their second straight and their 15th in 19 games with a vintage performance from the 41-year-old James, who showed no weariness on the second night of a back-to-back set in which he scored 54 points on 63.6% shooting (21 for 33).
James also recorded the 12,000th assist of his career in the first half, becoming only the fourth NBA player to reach the milestone.
The NBA scoring king racked up 14 points in the first quarter, and he added six points and seven assists in the second half while making sure the Lakers’ lead stayed firm. Dillon Brooks scored 12 points for the Suns, who are seventh in the West standings and locked into the top spot in the play-in tournament.
Devin Booker sat out for Phoenix to rest his injured right ankle for the postseason, and Jalen Green also sat with right knee soreness. Collin Gillespie and Grayson Allen played in the first half, but sat in the second half of the Suns’ lowest-scoring performance of the season.
The Lakers’ injury woes remain dire, but Marcus Smart had six points and seven assists against Phoenix in his return from a nine-game injury absence. James scored or assisted on nine of the Lakers’ first 10 field goals while they streaked to an early 16-point lead.