Nets hold off late rally, hand Lakers fifth straight loss

Nick Metallinos

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Nets hold off late rally, hand Lakers fifth straight loss image

The NBA's Christmas Day schedule continued with a featured matchup between the Nets and Lakers.

Brooklyn, which is back in action after having its last three games postponed due to the NBA's COVID health and safety protocols, was without MVP candidate Kevin Durant, who entered the protocols in the past week, but the Nets got a big boost as James Harden returned to see his first action since Dec. 10

The Lakers, who entered the holiday with a 16-17 record, were in desperate need of a win but fell 23-points down to the surging Nets, led by Harden's 36 point triple-double (36-10-10), and a career night from Australian Patty Mills, who finished with 34 points (8-of-13 from distance) and 7 assists. 

MORE: LeBron's history on Christmas Day

The Lakers were led by James, who had 39 points, nine rebounds and seven assists, and Russell Westbrook, who had another triple-double (13 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists), but could not snap their four-game losing streak. The loss now drops the Lakers to two games below .500 on the season. 

MORE: Watch Lakers vs. Nets live with Sling TV

Lakers vs. Nets live updates, highlights from NBA Christmas game

Lakers vs. Nets on Christmas Day score
  1 2 3 4
Lakers 23 39 20 33
Nets 38 28 36 20

End of the Fourth Quarter: Nets 122, Lakers 115

James Harden 36 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists

Patty Mills 34 points (career-high), 7 assists

LeBron James 39 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists

Russell Westbrook 13 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists

10:37 p.m . - Tied at 115! The lakers have come back from 23 points down to level the score with just 45 seconds remaining in the final term. 

10:27 p.m. - Patty Mills scores his 31st point of the night and ends a Brooklyn drought of 5:41 minutes without a bucket.

10:19 p.m. - Brooklyn call a timeout. The Lakers are on a 15-0 run to cut the lead to eight - 107-99. 

10:17 p.m . - Teamwork makes the dream work. This dime from Patty Mills is so sweet. 


 

10:14 p.m . - You can't stop Patty Mills, you can only hope to contain him. 


End of Third Quarter: Nets 102, Lakers 82

 

James Harden 32 points, 8 assists

Patty Mills 25 points, 6 assists

LeBron James 26 points, 7 rebounds 

Russell Westbrook 13 points, 11 assists

9:51 p.m . - James Harden is now two assists, three rebounds short of triple-double. 

9:46 p.m. - Patty Mills (22 points) has recorded his 10th 20-point game of the season. That's a new single-season career-high for 20-point games for Mills.

9:43 p.m . - Beard has a 30 piece and we're just getting to the halfway point of the third term. 


 

9:40 p.m . - Back and forth early in the third term. The Nets lead 76-72 with 9:28 left. 

End of Second Quarter: Nets 66, Lakers 62 

James Harden 23 points, 6 assists

Patty Mills 19 points, 1 assist 

Lebron James 22 points, 7 rebounds 

Malik Monk 10 points, 2 rebounds, 

9:18 p.m. - Russell Westbrook draws the fourth foul on Patty Mills with 2.9 seconds left in the half, but the Nets are challenging the call. 

9:14 p.m. - The Lakers back within three. They've trailed by as much as 17. The score is 59-56. 

9:11 p.m. - LeBron James is officially the all-time scoring leader on Christmas Day overtaking the late, great, Kobe Bryant. 


9:04 p.m . - Lakers in the penalty with 3:51 remaining in the half. The Nets will shoot free-throws for the rest of the term. 

 

8:55 pm . - Good THT defense leads to an easy transition bucket. Lakers within 12. 

8:50 p.m. - LeBron to Melo to Malik. Bucket. 


End of First Quarter: Nets 38, Lakers 23

8:39 p.m.  — 12 minutes are in the books and the Nets have already built a substantial lead.

Brooklyn's shooting 16-for-24 (66.7 percent) from the field and is led by a game-high 13 points from Patty Mills. James Harden, who is back after missing two weeks of action, has nine points, three boards and three assists.

Los Angeles is much colder, shooting 7-for-21 (33.3 percent) from the field and 1-for-8 (12.5 percent) from deep. LeBron James has scored six points but it's Stanley Johnson, who signed with the team yesterday, that leads the Lakers with seven points.

8:29 p.m.  — Brooklyn's still hot as its shooting 10-for-16 from the field to hold on to an eight-point advantage.

3:50 remains in the first frame and the Nets lead 24-16.

James Harden and Patty Mills have each scored six points for the Nets while LeBron James has scored six points of his own to pace the Lakers.

8:15 p.m.  — The Nets are on it early, getting out to a quick eight-point lead to force the Lakers to call a timeout.

Brooklyn leads 14-6 with 8:15 remaining in the first.

The Nets are shooting 6-for-7 from the field while the Lakers are shooting 2-for-6 early on.

8:10 p.m.  — LeBron James is the first to get on the board tonight, draining a mid-range jumper to get the action started.

LeBron is now 10 points shy of tying Kobe Bryant as the NBA's all-time Christmas Day scoring leader.

Pregame

7:40 p.m.  — Starting for the Lakers: Russell Westbrook, Wayne Ellington, Talen Horton-Tucker, LeBron James and Dwight Howard.

The Nets will go with a starting lineup of Patty Mills, James Harden, Bruce Brown, DeAndre' Bembry and Nic Claxton.

3:10 p.m.  — Game No. 1 at Crypto.com Arena.

1:10 p.m.  — Avery Bradley and Malik Monk will be back in action, strengthening the guard rotation that will look to slow James Harden down.

How to watch Lakers vs. Nets on Christmas Day

NBA Christmas Day schedule

The five games are split between ESPN and ABC. All times below are in Eastern Standard Time.

TV Schedule for NBA on Christmas
Time Matchup Channel
12:00 p.m. Hawks at Knicks ESPN
2:30 p.m. Celtics at Bucks ABC
5:00 p.m. Warriors at Suns ABC
8:00 p.m. Nets at Lakers ABC, ESPN
10:30 p.m. Mavericks at Jazz ESPN

You can stream all of the action on Sling TV .

Nick Metallinos

Nick Metallinos Photo

Nick has been working exclusively within the NBA world for over a decade. He hosted 46 episodes of Ball or Nothin' - a show screened on ESPN highlighting the social media aspects of the NBA. Nick has covered 3 NBA Finals, 5 NBA All-Star weekends, 8 NBA drafts, 5 Jordan Brand Classics plus dozens of playoff games and hundreds of regular season games. 
Nick spends his spare time trying to decide which sneakers best match his outfit.