- Associated Press - Friday, July 31, 2020

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) - LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers showed some rust.

They knocked it off with time to spare.

Anthony Davis scored 34 points, James had the go-ahead basket with 12.8 seconds left and the Lakers moved closer to clinching the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs by topping the Los Angeles Clippers 103-101 on Thursday night in the second game of the NBA’s re-opening doubleheader.

James had 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists to help the Lakers move 6 1/2 games ahead of the Clippers in the West with seven games remaining. Kyle Kuzma added 16 points.

“It felt like a real game to me, two teams battling. … Can’t complain for the first game,” Davis said.

Paul George had 30 points and Kawhi Leonard scored 28 for the Clippers, who had an 11-point lead midway through the third in a game with deep ebbs and flows. The Clippers got that lead after a 26-5 run; the Lakers immediately rebutted with a 36-14 run to reclaim control.

And it still came down to the final moments.

George’s 3-pointer with 1:50 left cut the Lakers’ lead to 99-98. James muscled his way to a layup on the next possession, and then George hit another 3 to tie the game at 101 with 29 seconds remaining.

James followed his own miss down the lane for the go-ahead basket, then was brilliant on the last defensive possession - forcing the ball out of Leonard’s hands and covering George as his 3-point try at the buzzer misfired.

“We can’t have self-inflicted wounds and I thought we had too many of them,” said Clippers coach Doc Rivers, whose team - which remains short-handed with Lou Williams still in quarantine and Montrezl Harrell tending to a family matter - gave up 29 points off turnovers.

Thursday marked the NBA’s first game action in 141 days, the league getting back to work after the coronavirus pandemic forced a shutdown.

During the pandemic, a renewed discussion about racial injustice happened in this country - the conversation that surrounds this NBA restart. The courts have “Black Lives Matter” on them, and the Lakers and Clippers knelt together during the national anthem in a silent protest to demand equality. New Orleans and Utah did the same in the night’s opener.

James - who is going to win his first assist title - had five in the first quarter to get teammates going, and then his first basket of the restart came on a dunk early in the second quarter to put the Lakers up 37-24.

But for a stretch that basically spanned a full quarter, spanning the second and third periods, the Lakers couldn’t make a shot. They went 1 for 10 to end the half, then 0 for 9 to start the third and the Clippers took advantage.

They turned a 50-40 deficit into a 66-55 edge in the third. And then it was the Lakers’ turn to rally, slicing the Clippers’ lead to 77-76 going into the fourth.

“It was a good game,” Leonard said. “Still had fun out there. It was great to be back on the floor.”

TIP-INS

Clippers: The Clippers had won 11 of their last 12 games in the state of Florida. In both of those losses, Dion Waiters played for the winning side - the first being a game in Miami. … Leonard was charged with two offensive fouls in the first quarter, the first time in his career that happened.

Lakers: The Lakers got to the 50-win mark for the 33rd time in franchise history, and this is the 12th time that James has helped a team get to that many wins in his 17 seasons. … James’ 3-pointer with 8:30 left extended his NBA record of consecutive regular-season games with at least 10 points to 989.

CELEB ROW

NBA players are permitted to attend games in the bubble as fans - with their seats 6 feet apart to satisfy social distancing rules. Among those who attended: Portland’s Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, San Antonio’s DeMar DeRozan and Toronto’s Kyle Lowry.

UP NEXT

Clippers: New Orleans on Saturday.

Lakers: Toronto on Saturday.

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More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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