Lakers, Thunder prevail

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Luka Doncic scored 41 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to a 119-95 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday as the National Basketball Association (NBA) champion Oklahoma City Thunder kept rolling.

Austin Reaves added 25 points and eight assists and Deandre Ayton chipped in 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers, who wrapped up a five-game road trip and headed home hoping to see superstar LeBron James make his season debut soon.

Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 32 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Bucks, adding five assists and a blocked shot.

But after connecting on just 10 of their 41 shot attempts in the first half the Bucks couldn’t regroup.

The Lakers led by as many as 31, drilling 13 three-pointers and out-rebounding the Bucks 47-39.

Milwaukee made 11 of their 15 three-pointers in the second half, but even as the Bucks’ shooting improved the Lakers had an answer for every run they made.

Both teams were playing the second leg of back-to-backs and Doncic admitted he’d be glad to get home after a week on the road.

“We played a lot of games,” he said. “But everybody played amazingly, the way we found energy.”

“I told the guys we’ve got to build on each other because I know everybody’s tired (but) we came here to win.”

In Charlotte, NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points in less than 30 minutes on the floor to lead the Thunder to a fifth straight win, 109-96.