Luka Doncic scored 31 points and Lebron James added 28 points with 13 returns when Los Angeles Lakers extended his winning line to five matches with a victory 106-102 Friday over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Lakers could regroup with 29 bench points after losing Austin Reaves to a calf injury for the first quarter. Los Angeles was already without starting forward Rui Hachimura, who came away with a left knee to Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday.
Doncic, who celebrated his 26th birthday, delivered his second highest score in the seven he has played in a Lakers uniform. Doncic is an addition to the trade deadline and on average has an average of 25.8 points in the last four games.
Ivica Zubac scored 27 points with 16 returns and Kawhi Leonard added 21 points for Clippers, which has dropped four out of five since the All-Star break.
James Harden scored 18 points for Clippers on 5-AV-22 shooting from the floor, including 1 in 10 from 3-point intervals, and had six turnover with nine assists. He was 1 of 13 from the floor during the second half.
Kris Dunn, who started for Clippers instead of leading goal scorers Norman Powell (knee), had 14 points, nine returns, six assists and four steals.
The Lakers improved to the 2-1 series against the Clippers and will host the final in the season series on Sunday.
Through a narrow first half, Lakers opened a lead of 59-54 at the break and led 83-77 through three quarters. Doncic scored eight points in a row for Lakers, including a couple of 3 points, to set up Lakers 98-88 with 6:23 left.
A quick 8-0 driving led Clippers within 98-96 with 5:01 left before the arrangement of Doncic and Gabe Vincent, Lakers set up 102-96 with 4:23 on the clock.
Leonard missed a 3-pointer who would have brought the Clippers within a point of 21.5 seconds left, and Bogdan Bogdanovic missed another 3-point attempt with 10 seconds left for Clippers.
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