Los Angeles: LeBron James showed he had no intention of slowing down after reaching the 20,000-point milestone, scoring 39 points yesterday to lead NBA champions Miami to a 99-90 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The victory came one day after James scored 25 points in a win over Golden State in Oakland, California, becoming the youngest player in NBA history, at 28, to record 20,000 career points. He also reached 5,000 career assists.
Dwyane Wade, who celebrated his 31st birthday yesterday and learned that like James he’d been elected an Eastern Conference starter to the All-Star game, added 27 points, five assists and four rebounds for Miami.
Kobe Bryant, who led all All-Star vote-getters in earning a 15th straight starting spot in the mid-season exhibition, paced the Lakers with 22 points.
But he connected on just 8-of-25 from the field, missing 14 of his first 17 shots, as the Heat defence stifled Los Angeles and forced 20 Lakers turnovers.
Metta World Peace followed with 16 points and Dwight Howard contributed a double-double of 13 points and 16 rebounds. But Los Angeles couldn’t stretch their two-game winning streak.
There was some good news for the lackluster Lakers, who had Pau Gasol return from a five-game absence because of a concussion to score 12 points with four rebounds and four assists off the bench.
The Lakers made it interesting at the end, with Bryant’s three-pointer knotting the score at 90-90 with 2:33 remaining. Wade answered with a jump shot, Lakers center Dwight Howard missed two free throws and Ray Allen made a jump shot to give the Heat a 94-90 lead.
After Lakers point guard Steve Nash missed a layup, James gave Miami breathing room with a jump shot that made it 96-90 with 49 seconds to play. He added one more basket and a free-throw to close it out
“I thought we played well enough to beat them,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said. “At the end of the day, turnovers killed us.”
Meanwhile, the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, off to the worst start in the Western Conference at 13-28, removed Alvin Gentry as coach yesterday by what the team called mutual agreement.
An interim replacement was expected to be named over the weekend by the Suns, who went 158-144 in more than five seasons with Gentry as coach since his arrival in February 2009 as an interim coach after Terry Porter was fired.
The Suns reached the 2010 Western Conference finals in their only play-off appearance under Gentry. AGENCIES
