LOS ANGELES — The last time the Lakers were without Anthony Davis and in need of a player to step up offensively outside of LeBron James and Austin Reaves, they got a career night out of Max Christie.
But this time, it was Reaves and James again doing the heavy lifting on Friday night, with Reaves scoring a career-high 38 points and James adding 29 as the Lakers held on for a 102-101 victory over the struggling Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets, who lost 126-67 to the Clippers on Wednesday night in a franchise-record 59-point defeat, had a chance to win it, but former Laker D’Angelo Russell missed a 3-point attempt with 2.6 seconds remaining.
Reaves, who bested his previous career-best of 35 points (done twice), shot 13 for 23 from the field (4 for 8 from 3-point range) and made all eight of his free throws. Reaves had 15 points in the fourth quarter, including three 3-pointers.
James, who shot 12 for 17 from the field (4 for 6 from 3-point range), added eight assists, seven rebounds and two blocked shots.
Reaves tied his previous career-high with a pull-up midrange jumper to give the Lakers a 97-90 lead with 4:32 left.
He made a step-back jumper on the Lakers’ next possession to set his new career-high and give the Lakers a 100-92 lead with 3:45 remaining.
Reaves and the Lakers, who shot 12 for 19 from the field in the fourth quarter, making five 3-pointers, went cold from there.
Reaves missed his next four shots after setting the career-high, with the Lakers’ lone basket during that stretch being a transition alley-oop from Reaves to James for a 102-95 lead with 2½ minutes left.
The Lakers didn’t score again after the alley-oop, allowing the Nets to cut their deficit to one after a Noah Clowney 3-pointer with 37 seconds left.
After Reaves missed a turnaround 6-footer, Russell had his chance at a game-winning shot, his high-arcing attempt in the final seconds rebounded by James.
Reaves and James scored 65.6% of the Lakers’ point total.
Gabe Vincent added 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting and three assists in 29 minutes off the bench. Rui Hachimura had 10 points, six rebounds and four assists. Jaxson Hayes started in Davis’ place and scored six points along with nine rebounds.
The Nets shot 17 for 38 (44.7%) from 3-point range to stay in the game.
Russell finished with 19 points, eight assists and six rebounds in his first game against his former team since being traded in late December. Zaire Williams and Tosan Evbuomwan scored 15 apiece for Brooklyn.
Davis was a late scratch for Friday game because of left plantar fasciitis – an injury designation that has lingered for the past two months.
More to come on this story.