NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Davis’ knee looked fine leaping high to slam down a lob pass from LeBron James on the game’s first possession.
And he looked healthy jumping into his teammate in celebration after James’ two steals and dunks in the fourth quarter punctuated his performance.
James scored 33 points and the Los Angeles Lakers welcomed Davis back with a 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, highlighting his night with steals and dunks about 15 seconds apart midway through the fourth quarter in front of a roaring road crowd that didn’t have most of its own stars to cheer.
Davis ran onto the court during the ensuing timeout and jumped into James, showing no fear while knocking his 6-foot-8, 250-pound teammate backward.
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. But with Kevin Durant still out with a sprained left knee ligament and the unvaccinated Kyrie Irving unavailable again now that the Nets are back from their four-game road trip, the Nets couldn’t match the Lakers on one of their good nights in an uneven season.
Afterward, Harden was asked about a Bleacher Report story detailing reasons that he is frustrated in Brooklyn.
Davis looked in sync right away, throwing down a lob pass from James on the first possession of the game. He also blocked three shots in the first quarter, which ended with the Lakers leading 33-25 on James’ basket as time expired.