Basketball: Lakers put away Hawks for seventh straight win

LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers (right) drives against De'Andre Hunter of the Atlanta Hawks at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on Dec 15, 2019. PHOTO: AFP

ATLANTA (REUTERS) - LeBron James scored 32 points to lead the visiting Los Angeles Lakers to a 101-96 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday (Dec 15) and extend their road winning streak to 14 games.

James made 12 of 21 from the field, four of them three-pointers, and added 13 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks to help the Lakers extend their overall winning streak to seven.

The Lakers' road winning streak is the longest by the club since they won 18 straight away from home during their National Basketball Association (NBA) record 33-game winning streak in 1972-73.

Their only road loss this season was in their own building in their first regular-season contest, when the Clippers were the "home" team at Staples Centre, which the teams share.

The Hawks, who lost to the Lakers by 21 last month in Los Angeles, were in the game until the end.

Atlanta got as close as 98-96 when De'Andre Hunter hit a pair of free throws with 19.8 seconds remaining, but James made one of two free throws with 15.2sec left to extend the lead to 99-96.

Atlanta rookie Cam Reddish missed a three-pointer that would have tied the game with 10sec to go, and the Lakers' Danny Green grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws to nail down the win.

The Lakers also got 27 points and 13 rebounds from Anthony Davis, who picked up his 12th double-double. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Rajon Rondo both added 11 points.

The Hawks got 30 points from Trae Young, who was 9-for-22 from the field, including three three-pointers. It was the 13th time Young has scored at least 30 points this season. Atlanta, which has lost four straight, also got 12 points from Jabari Parker.

In San Francisco, Bogdan Bogdanovic recorded 25 points, five rebounds and five assists off the bench to lead the Sacramento Kings to a 100-79 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

Buddy Hield scored 19 points and Marvin Bagley III added 17 points as the Kings won for the fourth time in their past five games. Harrison Barnes tallied 15 points as Sacramento ended a five-game losing streak to the Warriors.

Willie Cauley-Stein had 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and notched a season-high six steals for Golden State. Damion Lee scored 13 points and Alec Burks had 11 for the Warriors, who lost their fourth straight game to drop their NBA-worst record to 5-23.

Sacramento shot 60.3 per cent from the field, including 10 of 22 from three-point range, while overcoming a season-worst 27 turnovers. Bogdanovic was nineof 11 from the field and made four of five from three-point range, while Hield made eight of 11 shots overall.

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