monday night

HOUSTON — The combination of Luka Doncic and LeBron James was overpowering and enthralling for all to see during the Lakers’ dynamic 124-116 win over the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on Wednesday.

Doncic was masterful with his near triple-double of 40 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

“I thought he definitely put on a clinic down the stretch,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “Whether it was in isolation, versus fires in isolations, versus the shock with (Alperen) Segun, he just got us good offense whether for himself or for his teammates every single time down the floor….We moved the basketball, so that kind of got us going and then when Luka came back in he was just fantastic.”

James was a force with 30 points, five rebounds and two assists.

He was super efficient, missing just one of his 14 shots and making both of his three-pointers.

“Look, he was awesome tonight and I think two, part of the evolution of him on this team has been, particularly in this stretch, it’s just been his patience,” Redick said. “His patience, knowing he’s going to get the ball and he’s going to have transition opportunities and he’s going to have plays called for him and he’s going to play off-ball and get a corner three…He was great.”

The tremendous play of Doncic and James is why the Lakers extended their winning streak to seven straight games and helped them take the three-game series over the Rockets, 2-1, winning both games here, one on Monday night.

And because Doncic and James were clutch down the stretch when the Lakers leaned on them to be clutch, they are the third-place team in the rugged Western Conference, holding a 1-½ lead over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“You know, when you win, everything is easier,” Doncic said. “Winning is fun. So, just the way we play, I think it’s a lot of fun. And that’s what we just do, we win, have a good time.”

Doncic had 10 points and three assists in the fourth quarter.

But the beauty of the night was when Doncic threw a no-look lob pass to James for a dunk and then when Doncic drilled a three-pointer with 58.4 seconds left for a 120-111 Lakers lead.

Doncic yelled at the crowd and ran down court shaking his head. When the Rockets called a time out, the Lakers bench all ran over to Doncic, hugging him, slapping him and James nudging him for a job very well done.

Doncic was asked what the fan said to set him off.

“I don’t know, some guy. Some guy was talking crazy,” Doncic said. “Showed me his… I don’t know. Nevermind.”

Doncic speaks several languages, including English and his native Slovenian.

He was asked what language he spoke when talking to the fan.

“Off the camera, it was in English,” he said. “I made sure he understand.”

Luka Doncic celebrates after making a three-pointer against the Houston Rockets in the first half.

(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)

James had a steal in the first quarter and then threw down a dunk with Alperen Segen chasing him, leading to James to stare at Segun as he ran back down court, drawing cheers from the fans in awe at witnessing the 23-year veteran still making highlight plays at 41.

Early in the second quarter, James gave the fans even more to cheer about, catching a high lob pass from Marcus Smart and throwing down a one-handed dunk to oohs and aahs.

James wasn’t done, taking a pass from Jake LaRavia and throwing down another dunk later in the second quarter that brought the crowd out of its seats. That play gave the Lakers a 13-point lead.

James was at it again with a tip dunk off a Deandre Ayton missed shot late in the second quarter.

By the end of the first half, James had made all eight of his shots and scored 18 points in carrying the Lakers to a 12-point lead after the first 24 minutes of the game.

“Right now, I feel like….” James said after the game. ‘’Right now. But in the game I felt pretty good. Before the game I didn’t feel that great. I mean, I was yawning and tired and telling myself I was literally, just like talking to myself like, ‘Come on, here we go. Let’s figure it out. Let’s get through it.’ But I felt pretty good in the game and like I said I’m happy to make a few plays to help our team win.”

In many ways, it was easy to understand why he felt that way. He had just played in his 1,610th career NBA game, leaving him one shy of the all-time record held by Robert Parish (1,611).

So, James was asked, where did he find the energy to play 34 minutes and six seconds in such a high-level and intense game.

“I mean, if I’m in uniform I got to try to see what I can give,” James said. “And that’s where it stems from.”

Trae Young has yet to play a game for the Washington Wizards.

The four-time All Star has, however, already been ejected from a game as a member of the team.

That happened Monday night, three days before Young’s expected debut for the team that acquired him in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 7. He has not played in an NBA game since Dec. 27 because of knee and quadriceps injuries.

Earlier on Monday, Young posted a video on Instagram that showed him in Wizards gear and ended with “3/5” on the screen, indicating the date Washington hosts the Utah Jazz later this week. Before his team’s game against the Houston Rockets on Monday night, Wizards coach Brian Keefe said Young was trending toward being able to play in the Utah game.

Still, Young was in street clothes and watching the Rockets-Wizards game on the bench at Capital One Arena. During the third quarter, Houston’s Tari Eason shoved Washington’s Jamir Watkins to the floor, an incident that did not draw a whistle from the referees.

A few seconds later, after a foul was called on Eason for a different incident involving Watkins, Young stepped onto the court while yelling at referee Jacyn Goble apparently over the previous no-call against Eason. Goble called a technical foul on Young, then spoke with crew chief Tony Brothers and umpire Marat Kogut.

Brothers then announced that the technical foul had been called on Young for running onto the court and that Young had been ejected from the game. Eason also was ejected.

Young gave high fives to fans as he left toward the locker room. He did not speak to reporters after the Wizards’ 123-118 loss but joked about his ejection on X.

“Don’t expect me to get ejected too many more times D.C.,” Young wrote, adding a crying-with-laughter emoji, “but I’m definitely bringing that energy & competitiveness when I’m back for my brothers!”

After the game, Keefe praised Young for having his fellow player’s back.

“I think he was just sticking up for his teammates, which I thought was great,” Keefe told reporters. “Obviously, the refs missed a call in which our guy got knocked down, and I loved how our teammates stuck with him. So, whatever happened in that moment, I was actually proud of him because he stuck up for his teammates and I really care about that type of stuff.”

Keefe added that it’s an example of the type of engagement Young has shown since he’s joined the team.

“It’s nothing that he’s not been doing the whole time since he’s been here,” Keefe said. “He’s talking to everybody in every timeout. He sees so much. He has so much stuff to share. He’s completely engaged in the whole game. So I am not surprised that he stood up [for] his teammates. That’s the type of guy he is, and we’re lucky to have him.”

MEDLEY, Fla. — Rhyne Howard scored 30 points to lead Vinyl past Laces and into the Unrivaled semifinals on Saturday, while Paige Bueckers’ 29 points led Breeze past Rose to secure its semifinal berth.

The Sparks’ Dearica Hamby hit the game-winning shot against No. 3 Laces in Game 1 of the first round of Unrivaled’s playoffs. Once they secured the 82-69 win, players from the sixth-ranked Vinyl club — the last Unrivaled team to clinch a spot in the playoffs — jumped into Hamby’s arms in celebration.

Dominique Malonga had 17 rebounds and the game-winning free throw to help Breeze rout Rose, last year’s Unrivaled champion, 69-50 and advance to the next round, which will be played at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Monday night.

Top-seeded Phantom and No. 2 seed Mist earned automatic berths to Monday’s semifinals.

The title game will be March 4 at Unrivaled’s home arena in Miami, with a prize pool of $600,000 to be split among players from the championship-winning club.

Unrivaled announces end-of-season award winners

Phantom forward Aliyah Boston, who is entering her fourth season with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, was named Unrivaled’s defensive player of the year on Saturday after emerging as one of the league’s biggest defensive standouts.

Boston, who was also named to the league’s second-team All-Unrivaled list, led the league with 29 blocks in 14 regular season games and finished second in total defensive rebounds (111). She also led Phantom in rebounds (136) and points off turnovers (39). She averaged 18.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots per game — a significant leap from her first Unrivaled season, when she averaged 5.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 0.4 blocks.

Boston’s Phantom teammate Kelsey Plum, of the Sparks, was named first-team All-Unrivaled along with Bueckers and Rose guard Chelsea Gray.

Bueckers led her Breeze club in points (22.1) and assists (5.5) per game and shot 38% from three-point range this season. Gray, who won Unrivaled’s one-on-one tournament earlier this month, had four game-winning baskets and became the first Unrivaled player to surpass 600 points, 200 field goals, and 100 assists.

Phantom’s Roneeka Hodges was named coach of the year after leading her team to a league-best 11-3 record in her first season at Unrivaled.

Up next

Phantom will face Vinyl Monday in the first of two semifinal games in Brooklyn. Mist will go against Breeze in the second matchup.