LeBron James, Max Christie propel Lakers past Blazers

LOS ANGELES — Playing without Anthony Davis hasn’t been a scenario the Lakers have had to face many times over the last couple of years.

But when Davis hasn’t been available, it’s usually led to poor results – a script the Lakers flipped for at least one game with their 114-106 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night, their sixth win in the past eight games.

With Davis sidelined, the Lakers needed someone outside of LeBron James (38 points, eight assists) and Austin Reaves (15 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds) to step up offensively.

Max Christie was that player, with the third-year wing having a career night to help lift the team to its first victory of the new year.

“He’s putting in the work and it’s paying off for him,” James, 40, said of Christie, who is still 21. “Got coaches who believes in him, we believe in him and he was spectacular on both ends of the floor.”

Christie scored a career-high 28 points, shattering his previous best of 17, which he set in a Dec. 23 home loss to the Detroit Pistons. He knocked down nine of his 16 shots from the field, going 5 for 9 from 3-point range.

“His career night started with changing the disposition on defense,” Coach JJ Redick said. “You guys know how much I believe in Max and just happy he’s been building now for several weeks and he had had a three-game stretch around Christmas and then to come back [Thursday] and have his career high is just awesome.”

Christie has scored in double digits in four of his last five games, providing 3-and-D excellence since becoming a full-time starter earlier in December.

“My positive self-talk was really good and it was able to kind of keep me going,” Christie said. “I hit a couple 3s and had a couple nice reads on the backside to cut to the basket, get a few dunks. I had five free throws as well, made every single one. I was aggressive, I was assertive and I stayed positive with my self-talk even after a little bit of a slow start.”

But it was his non-perimeter scoring that helped the Lakers (19-14) keep the Blazers (11-22) at bay after Portland cut the Lakers’ 15-point fourth-quarter lead (92-77) to 101-97 with less than three minutes left.

The Lakers ran a Horns action that led to a Christie dunk to put the Lakers back ahead by six with 2:49 left.

Christie made a pair of free throws a minute later for a 107-100 lead.

“I did a good job kind of cutting to the basket,” he said. “They were a very physical, very swarming team with the guys on the ball. So I was able to cut behind the defense, get a few dunks, and then be on the back side and be able to knock down a couple 3s.”

After a Shaedon Sharpe dunk that reduced the Lakers’ lead to five, James hit his season-high seventh 3-pointer of the game for an eight-point lead with just under a minute left.

“He did it in a number of ways,” Redick said of James, who attempted 10 3-point shots, the third time this season he’s attempted double-digits shots from behind the arc. “I like when he’s a willing 3-point shooter. We want him aggressive, shot-ready for 3s just as much as we want him aggressive to get downhill and put pressure on the rim. He’s just fantastic.

“There was a couple of possessions where, even before they cut it to four, it was eight, nine, whatever and, because of their switching and us playing small and not having A.D. out there, there was a couple of possessions that seemed like they were dead possessions and he just bailed us out. Just another 38-point game for LeBron.”

James later made a layup after an out-of-bounds play for a 112-106 lead to essentially put the game out of reach with 17 seconds left.

Reaves struggled with his shot (5 for 15) but his assist total marked his fourth consecutive game with double-digit assists.

“Austin’s been like an engine for us recently,” Redick said. “He was just, like he normally is, just very dynamic, both on and off the ball, which created advantages. And he made a lot of terrific reads and got his teammates really good shots.”

James’ scoring total tied him with Michael Jordan for the most 30-point games in league history (562). It was also just the eighth game of 30 points or more by an NBA player 40 or older: four from Jordan and one apiece from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Dirk Nowitzki. The games by Abdul-Jabbar and Malone were in the playoffs.

“You know when you kind of have a heater going,” James said. “You try to keep it going by continuing to take good shots and take the right shots and not get yourself out of a zone. So you’re aware of it when you’re on the floor and you’ve made a few.”

The Lakers entered Thursday 2-5 over the last two seasons without Davis, who sat out because of a sprained left ankle. It was just his second absence of the season.

Anfernee Simons led the Blazers with 23 points and five assists. Deni Avdija added a 19 point-10 rebound double-double with four assists, Sharpe had 19 points and five rebounds and Toumani Camara had 18 points.

Jaxson Hayes had four points while starting in Davis’ spot in his return from a 15-game injury absence.

Dorian Finney-Smith scored three points and Shake Milton had four in the veterans’ second game for the Lakers since they arrived in a trade with Brooklyn on Sunday.

The Lakers return to Crypto.com Arena on Friday night to complete their home back-to-back set against the Atlanta Hawks.