(Basketball news) The Los Angeles Lakers new trident of LeBron, Davis and D’Angelo Russell helped defeat the New Orleans Pelicans 120-102. For the Lakers, LeBron James had 21 points in his first game since becoming the NBA’s career scoring leader, and Anthony Davis had 28 points, 10 rebounds and five assists as D’Angelo Russell had 21 points and seven assists. For the Pelicans, Brandon Ingram scored 25 points and C.J. McCollum had 22 points and nine assists. Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley joined James and Davis in the Lakers’ 30th starting lineup of the season, while Mo Bamba fouled out in 16 minutes as the backup center in his Lakers debut. With this result the Lakers hit the All-Star break in 13th place in the Western Conference with a record of 27-32 but the season isn’t over yet.

”There was a huge emphasis on getting this win,” Davis said. ”Guys came out and played with a lot of energy and urgency. … It was only our first game together, but it looked good.”

”I feel really good about what we’ve got brewing, but we need to lock in,” James said. ”It’s the first time we’ve all been on the floor together, so we wanted to see what it looks like, and the first 40 minutes looked pretty good.”

”I love those moments,” Russell said. ”We had Bron tonight, and we seemed a little more fluid. Everybody pitched in. Everybody played a major part in keeping the lead, maintaining it, getting stops. I like what we showcased tonight.”

”It was just hot,” said Beasley, who scored eight poitns. ”We wanted to make a statement and do what we do.”

”We just didn’t play with a sense of urgency, and those were my end-of-game comments to our team,” coach Willie Green said. ”We have to play with more force and have a sense of urgency that we just didn’t have tonight. Not a great effort on our part.”

The depleted Denver Nuggets side beat the Dallas Mavericks 118-109. For the Nuggets, Reserve Jeff Green scored a season-high 24 points, Nikola Jokic notched his 21st triple-double of the season as he finished with 14 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. For the Mavericks, Luka Doncic had 37 points that was missing guard Kyrie Irving due to lower-back tightness. Doncic and Irving have played alongside each other in two games since Irving was acquired as part of a deal with Brooklyn on Feb. 6. Jokic joined some exclusive company by getting over 500 assists and 500 rebounds before the All-Star break. The only other NBA players to accomplish the feat were Russell Westbrook (three times, ’16-17, ’17-18, ’18-19) and Oscar Robertson (’61-62). With this result the Nuggets sit comfortably on the top of the Western Conference standings with a record of 41-18.

”For us to continue to find ways to win and have different guys step up every night, I think it speaks to our chemistry, our depth,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. ”We’ve got a really good team in there.”

”You’re sitting in a good place against the best team in the West and so we have to look at doing a better job,” Kidd said.

”He makes it look like a walk in the park,” recently acquired backup center Thomas Bryant said of Jokic’s ease with triple-doubles. ”It’s not easy at all.”

Also read: NBA: Bucks beat a depleted Celtics squad as Clippers defeated the Warriors