National Basketball Association
L.A. Lakers 125, Brooklyn 118
When: 10:30 PM ET, Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Officials: #77 Karl Lane, #73 Tre Maddox, #13 Monty McCutchen
Attendance: 18426

LOS ANGELES -- With D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle leading the way, the Los Angeles Lakers mustered enough down the stretch to hold off the Brooklyn Nets.

Russell scored 32 points and Randle recorded a triple-double, sparking the Lakers to a 125-118 victory over the Nets on Tuesday night at Staples Center.

Russell had one of his best games since he hung a career-high 39 points on the Nets in a 107-101 decision on March 1 at Staples. On Tuesday, Russell scored 17 of his 19 first-half points in the second quarter, and he made 7 of 13 from 3-point range and 11 of 20 shots overall. The point guard also collected a season-high eight rebounds.

Randle finished with 17 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists as the Lakers (7-5) defeated the Nets for the 16th time in the past 19 meetings. Timofey Mozgov had 20 points, Jordan Clarkson added 13 and Tarik Black chipped in 12 points and nine boards for Los Angeles.

"I've been close a lot of times, to be honest. It just all came together today," said Randle, who earned his second career triple-double. "I just try to make the right play. They were blitzing screens with D'Angelo, and I was getting in and finding (Mozgov) or whoever it may be or on the fastbreak (when) the defense is off-balance I'm finding my guys."

Lakers coach Luke Walton wasn't completely impressed with Randle's effort.

"He is continuing to get better and really realize what he is capable of doing," Walton said. "As good as he played tonight, there were probably nine, 10, 11 or 12 times that he did not get himself involved in the play. He wasn't getting all the way back on defense, plugging the paint on (the) help-side drive.

"(With) his ability to create for others, to get to the rim, and his starting to hit that mid-range jumper a little more consistently, he is figuring out and starting to believe what he can really do in this league, but we still need more of an every-type-of-possession mentality."

Brook Lopez, who rested Monday in the Nets' 127-95 debacle against the Los Angeles Clippers, had 30 points and 10 rebounds. Lopez averaged 24 points in 12 previous contests against the Lakers.

Bojan Bogdanovic contributed 20 of his 29 points in the second half for Brooklyn (4-7), which fell for the third time in four games.

The Nets cut the Lakers' double-digit lead to 116-112 on a layup by Trevor Booker (11 points, 10 rebounds) with 2:49 remaining but failed to register another field goal until Joe Harris converted a layup with 32.6 seconds left. However, by then the Lakers had the outcome in hand.

"We put them on the line 43 times, and I think before this game we were pretty good at keeping teams off the free-throw line," said Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson, whose club hit 16 of 20 foul shots compared to 34 of 43 for the Lakers. "And then the offensive rebounds hurt us. We know the areas we need to improve in. I will say we were in the game, we gave ourselves a chance."

The Lakers extended a five-point halftime lead into a double-digit cushion in the third quarter. A 3-pointer by Russell boosted the Lakers to an 80-67 advantage with 4:59 remaining in the period. Twice, Brooklyn cut the margin to six before the Lakers seized a 93-85 edge heading into the final quarter.

Los Angeles led 56-51 at halftime. Russell made 5 of 8 from 3-point range in the first half.

The Nets outshot the Lakers 45.5 percent to 44.6 percent. Brooklyn connected on 12 of 41 3-point attempts (29.3 percent) compared to 9 of 28 (32.1 percent) for Los Angeles.

The Nets held a 66-56 edge on points in the paint. However, the Lakers won the battle of the boards 55-47 overall, 14-9 on the offensive end.

"The rebounds are the ones that hurt you, and giving them that many free throws," Atkinson said.

NOTES: The matchup featured the NBA's top two scoring benches. The Lakers ranked first at 51.3 points per game, while the Nets were second at 45.7. Los Angeles finished with a 43-40 edge in reserve points Tuesday. ... Nets G Jeremy Lin (strained left hamstring) missed his sixth consecutive game. ... Both clubs resume play Friday. Brooklyn caps its four-game trip at Oklahoma City, while Los Angeles hosts the San Antonio Spurs.
Top Game Performances
 
Brooklyn   L.A. Lakers
Brook Lopez 30 Scoring D'Angelo Russell 32
Randy Foye 7 Assists Julius Randle 10
Trevor Booker 10 Rebounds Julius Randle 14
Brook Lopez 6 Free Throws Made Julius Randle 7
Bojan Bogdanovic 2 Steals Jordan Clarkson 5
Brook Lopez 3 Blocks Brandon Ingram 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Brooklyn 118 45.5 12-41 16-20 23 47 6 8 14
L.A. Lakers 125 44.6 9-28 34-43 24 55 2 9 12
Upcoming Games
  • L.A. Lakers will play their next game at home against San Antonio. The Lakers have a W/L % of .500 after a win and .667 after a loss.
  • Brooklyn will play their next game on the road against Oklahoma City. The Nets have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .571 after a loss.