LeBron James of the Lakers blocks a shot by Brooklyn’s Bruce Brown in the second half Tuesday night in New York. Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

NEW YORK — LeBron James welcomed Anthony Davis back with a lob pass for the game’s first basket, then turned to his own offense to score 33 points in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 106-96 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night.

Davis had eight points in 25 minutes after missing 17 games with a sprained left knee and the Lakers got good nights off the bench from Malik Monk and Carmelo Anthony.

James added seven rebounds and six assists, punctuating his performance with steals and dunks about 15 seconds apart midway through the fourth quarter in front of a roaring road crowd that didn’t have most of its own stars to cheer.

Monk scored 22 points, hitting six 3-pointers, and Anthony added 13.

James Harden had 33 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. But with Kevin Durant still out with a sprained left knee ligament and the unvaccinated Kyrie Irving unavailable again now that the Nets are back from their four-game trip, the Nets couldn’t match the Lakers on one of their good nights in an uneven season.

76ERS 117, PELICANS 107: Joel Embiid scored 12 of his 42 points in the fourth quarter as Philadelphia won at home.

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Tobias Harris added 33 points for the 76ers, who opened a five-game homestand by winning their 12th of the last 15.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 31 points and Willy Hernangomez had 29 for the Pelicans.

RAPTORS 125, HORNETS 113: Pascal Siakam had 24 points and matched his career high with 12 assists, Gary Trent Jr. scored a season-best 32 and Toronto never trailed in beating visiting Charlotte.

OG Anunoby scored 24 points, Chris Boucher had 12, Malachi Flynn 11 and Dalano Banton 10 as the short-handed Raptors overcame the absences of starters Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes. VanVleet sat out with a sore right knee, and Barnes was scratched less than an hour before tipoff because of a sore right wrist.

LaMelo Ball scored 25 points and Miles Bridges had 22 for the Hornets, who had won three straight road games.

SPURS 134, ROCKETS 104: Dejounte Murray and Jakob Poeltl combined for 37 points in three quarters to help San Antonio win at Houston.

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Murray had 19 points and 10 assists and Poeltl had 18 points with nine rebounds by the end of the third quarter, and neither played after that with the Spurs up by 31.

Houston led early in the first quarter, but the Spurs soon took over and were up by 15 at halftime. A 39-point third quarter put the game out of reach on a night San Antonio scored a season-high 82 points in the paint and shot a season-best 57.4 percent.

NUGGETS 110, PISTONS 105: Nikola Jokic had 28 points, 21 rebounds and nine assists, and Denver won at Detroit.

Monte Morris made four free throws in the final 11.5 seconds to clinch the game, and Jeff Green added 20 points for the Nuggets in the second game between the teams in three nights. Denver won 117-111 at home on Sunday.

Cade Cunningham led Detroit with 34 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.


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