Drummond stars as depleted LA Lakers defeat Brooklyn Nets
Andre Drummond finished with a double double of 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Brooklyn Nets 126-101 yesterday morning (Singapore time) in a battle between two teams lacking much of their star power.
The Lakers entered the game missing their two best players, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but they overcame that with energetic play, strong perimeter shooting and a lockdown defence.
"Today, we were out here competing, making shots and, yeah, that's the best win of the year I would say," Lakers' Dennis Schroeder said.
Without James and Davis, the Lakers had been one of the NBA's lowest-scoring teams over the past couple of weeks. James was missing his 11th game in a row and Davis has been sidelined for the past 25.
The Nets were without James Harden and then lost guard Kyrie Irving, who had scored 18 points, when he was ejected for the first time in his career in the second half.
Kevin Durant, in his second game back from a hamstring injury, was forced to carry the load for the Nets and he tallied 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists in front of a pandemic-limited crowd of 1,700 at Barclays Center.
"I learnt a lot from today's game, that we have a lot of guys in this locker room who are very tough," Drummond said.
"Despite who's on the other side of the court, they're going to come out and play."
In Salt Lake City, Western Conference leaders Utah Jazz became the first team to reach 40 wins this season, after Donovan Mitchell scored 42 points to help the Jazz to a 128-112 win over the Sacramento Kings. - AFP
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