Maxey erupts; Sixers send Lakers crashing

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Tyrese Maxey scored 43 points to lead the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers to a 118-104 National Basketball Association (NBA) victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday as the surging Houston Rockets pulled off a tense 100-96 win over Atlanta.

With Joel Embiid missing his 12th straight game and Paul George sidelined with a finger injury, Maxey stepped up and the Sixers won their third straight.

The defeat halted the Lakers’ four-game winning streak, which featured a victory over reigning champions Boston. Worse, star Anthony Davis exited in the first quarter with an abdominal strain.

The Lakers were up 20-17 when Davis — fresh off a 42-point, 23-rebound performance in Charlotte on Monday — departed and they struggled defensively in his absence.

The 76ers out-scored them, 48-32, in the second quarter and led 73-57 at halftime.

LeBron James scored 31 points with eight rebounds and nine assists but said 22 turnovers were too many.

“When your best player goes out it’s always challenging,” James said, but added: “We’ve just got to be better.”

“We had too many turnovers tonight that resulted in too many buckets for them. You can’t make mistake after mistake after mistake.”

James, the league’s all-time leading scorer, had one steal to move into sixth place on the all-time steals list with 2,311.

In Atlanta, Jalen Green scored 25 points for the Rockets, who fended off a late Hawks surge to post a fourth straight win.

Coming off three big victories — two straight over Eastern Conference leaders Cleveland and a 114-112 victory on Monday over Boston — the Rockets delivered another gritty performance.