NBA: LeBron James leads surging LA Lakers past sagging Spurs; Thunder net final 13pts to stun struggling Warriors

SAN ANTONIO/SAN FRANCISCO (REUTERS) - LeBron James poured 33 points and dished out 14 assists to push the visiting Los Angeles Lakers to a 114-104 victory over the struggling San Antonio Spurs on Monday (Nov 25) in the Alamo City to win their eighth straight game.

The Lakers led by just four points heading to the final quarter but opened the period with a 12-3 run that featured a pair of three-pointers from James and was capped by his assist to JaVale McGee for a dunk.

San Antonio never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.

Anthony Davis added 19 points, 13 of them in the second half, and 12 rebounds while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 14, Rajon Rondo hit for 13 points (3-for-3 from beyond the arc), while Troy Daniels and Kyle Kuzma pumped in 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Lakers.

Meanwhile, Chris Paul buried a 19-footer with 36.8 seconds remaining as part of a 13-0, game-ending run and the Oklahoma City Thunder stunned the Golden State Warriors 100-97 in San Francisco.

It appeared the Warriors were in line for just their second home win of the season when Glenn Robinson III capped a career-best, 25-point night with a three -pointer with 3:18 to play, putting them up 97-87.

But Oklahoma City, in beating the Warriors for the third straight time this season, did the rest of the game's scoring, starting with treys by Paul and Dennis Schroder.

One free throw by Steven Adams and a short shot by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander made it a nine-point run and a 97-96 game with 1:18 to play, and Paul then buried his go-ahead jumper 42 seconds later.

After Alec Burks misfired on a driving attempt for Golden State, Gilgeous-Alexander capped the flurry with two free throws with 22.4 seconds left for the eventual three-point margin of victory.

The Warriors had a shot at a tie, but Jordan Poole's desperate three-point attempt in the final two seconds was blocked by Gilgeous-Alexander.

Golden State, the NBA's worst team with a 3-15 record, missed their last five shots and mixed in a pair of turnovers.

The Lakers, whose only defeats this year have come to their crosstown-rivals Clippers and Toronto, are off to their best start (15-2) since the 2008-09 season, when they won the championship.

LaMarcus Aldridge paced the Spurs with 30 points, with DeMar DeRozan adding 24, Bryn Forbes scoring 13 and Derrick White hitting for 11 for San Antonio, who have lost nine of 10 games and four straight at home.

The Spurs led 56-54 at the half as Aldridge, with 16 points, and DeRozan, with 12, paced them over the first two quarters. The Spurs outshot Los Angeles 53.3 per cent to 45.8 per cent in the first half.

James led the Lakers with 19 points in the first half, while Rondo poured in 10. Davis had just four points on 2-of-10 shooting from the floor.

The Spurs led 77-76 with 2min 42sec to play in the third quarter before Los Angeles rattled off eight of the ensuing nine points and took an 86-82 advantage heading to the fourth quarter.

Los Angeles have already defeated the Spurs twice in the first quarter of the season, both times in San Antonio.