Luka Doncic scored 37 points with 10 assists and LeBron James added 11 points in 30 minutes of his season debut as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied for a 140-125 victory over the visiting Utah Jazz on Tuesday.
After missing the first 14 games of the season because of sciatica on his right side, James took the court to become the first player in NBA history to play in 23 consecutive seasons.
Austin Reaves scored 26 points, Deandre Ayton added 20 points with 14 rebounds and Jake LaRavia had 16 points as Los Angeles won its third consecutive game.
Keyonte George scored 33 points and Lauri Markkanen added 31 for the Jazz, who lost for the fifth time in their past seven games. Svi Mykhailiuk and Ace Bailey each scored 13 points and Jusuf Nurkic added 10 points with 10 rebounds in Utah’s only road contest in a stretch of seven games.
The Lakers didn’t take their first lead until going up 89-88 on a Doncic layup with 3:36 remaining in the third quarter. The basket was part of an 8-0 run that gave Los Angeles a 91-88 advantage.
The Lakers dominated from there. They led 104-93 through three quarters after trailing by as many as seven points earlier in the period. Doncic scored 17 points in the third quarter alone when Los Angeles had a 37-22 scoring advantage.
It was more of the same in the fourth quarter as the Lakers had a 36-32 advantage and finished with a season high in points.
The Jazz led the entire first half, taking an 11-2 lead 3:19 into the game and going up 16-6 five minutes into the opening quarter. James had a turnover in the opening minute and missed his only shot of the first quarter as Utah took a 36-27 lead.
James’ first basket of the season came on a 3-pointer with 8:20 remaining in the first half. He scored seven points in the second quarter, while going 2 of 2 from 3-point range in the period.
The Jazz led 71-67 at halftime by shooting 55.3% from the floor as George had 23 points and Markkanen added 22.
