LeBron James welcomed Anthony Davis back with a lob pass for the game's first basket, then turned to his own offense to score 33 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' 106-96 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night.
Davis had eight points in 25 minutes after missing 17 games with a sprained left knee and the Lakers got good nights off the bench from Malik Monk and Carmelo Anthony.
James added seven rebounds and six assists, punctuating his performance with steals and dunks about 15 seconds apart midway through the fourth quarter.
Monk scored 22 points, hitting six 3-pointers, and Anthony added 13.
James Harden had 33 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in an impressive follow-up to his strong game in Los Angeles when the Nets won there on Christmas.
Luke Kennard scored seven points inside the final 9 seconds, including a go-ahead four-point play with 1.9 seconds remaining, and Los Angeles overcame a 35-point first-half deficit to stun Washington.
Kennard hit a 32-footer out of a timeout and then, after Washington committed a 5-second violation, sank another 3 running to his right while absorbing a foul from Bradley Beal. He finished with 25 points.
Amir Coffey scored a career-high 29 points for the depleted Clippers, who evened their record to 2-2 at the midpoint of a season-long eight game trip.
Terance Mann and Isaiah Hartenstein each had 16 points for Los Angeles, which scored 80 points after halftime to improve to 7-10 since losing seven-time All-Star guard Paul George to a right elbow injury last month.
Kyle Kuzma had 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Beal added 10 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter of Washington's fourth consecutive defeat.
Joel Embiid scored 12 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter as Philadelphia pulled away from short-handed New Orleans.
Tobias Harris added 33 points for the 76ers, who opened a five-game homestand by winning their 12th of the last 15.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 31 points and Willy Hernangómez had 29 for the Pelicans.
Embiid has played in 19 straight games, averaging 33.3 points, and Philadelphia is 13-6 over that stretch.
Stephen Curry had 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, rookie Jonathan Kuminga scored 22, and Golden State routed Dallas.
The Mavericks' Tim Hardaway Jr. suffered a broken bone in his left foot in the second quarter.
Luka Doncic had 25 points and eight rebounds, while Hardaway scored 10 points in 10 minutes for the Mavericks, who had used smothering defense to beat Golden State 99-82 on Jan. 5 at Dallas.
Jordan Poole scored 17 points off the bench as Golden State snapped a three-game losing streak to the Mavericks. Klay Thompson returned and scored 15 points to go with six assists after he sat out two games.
Pascal Siakam had 24 points and matched his career high with 12 assists, Gary Trent Jr. scored a season-best 32 and Toronto beat Charlotte.
OG Anunoby scored 24 points, Chris Boucher had 12, Malachi Flynn 11 and Dalano Banton 10 as the short-handed Raptors overcame the absences of starters Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes.
Siakam finished with nine rebounds, narrowly missing his second career triple-double.
LaMelo Ball scored 25 points and Miles Bridges had 22 for the Hornets, who had won three straight road games but were missing Gordon Hayward and Jalen McDaniels.
Jayson Tatum scored 36 points and Jaylen Brown had 30 points and 10 rebounds before both rested the entire fourth quarter as Boston routed Sacramento.
Robert Williams finished with 13 points and 17 rebounds for the Celtics, who got off to a torrid start and never let up on the Kings, even when both teams went to reserves for the fourth quarter of a game that had been long decided. Boston stretched its lead to 60 points before it was over.
Buddy Hield led the Kings with 11 points. He was the only Sacramento player to score in double figures as the Kings lost their fourth straight. Richaun Holmes had nine points and nine rebounds and Tyrese Haliburton added seven assists for Sacramento.
Dejounte Murray had 19 points and 10 assists, Jacob Poeltl had 18 points and nine rebounds, and both sat out the fourth quarter as San Antonio coasted past Houston.
Houston led early in the first quarter, but the Spurs soon took over and were up by 15 at halftime. A 39-point third quarter put the game out of reach.
Kevin Porter Jr. had 16 points and nine assists for the Rockets. Christian Wood scored 15 points with seven rebounds for Houston.
Keldon Johnson added 16 points for San Antonio and Doug McDermott had 15.
Nikola Jokic had 28 points, 21 rebounds and nine assists, and Denver beat Detroit.
Monte Morris made four free throws in the final 11.5 seconds to clinch the game, while Jeff Green added 20 points for the Nuggets in the second game between the teams in three nights. Denver won 117-111 at home on Sunday.
Cade Cunningham led Detroit with 34 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
