![\"Alperen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AFP__20260121__2257311201__v1__HighRes__SanAntonioSpursVHoustonRockets-1768982133.jpg\")
Alperen Sengun, right, and the Houston Rockets defeated Victor Wembanyama\u2019s San Antonio Spurs at the Toyota Center on January 20, 2026, in Houston, US [Kenneth Richmond\/Getty Images via AFP]Rockets win Texas derby against Spurs<\/p>\nLos Angeles Lakers star had one of his most impactful games of the season to propel his side to a comeback win against Denver Nuggets.<\/p>\n
Published On 21 Jan 202621 Jan 2026<\/p>\n
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Luka Doncic bagged a 38-point triple-double as the Los Angeles Lakers staged a second-half rally to claim a 115-107 road victory over the Denver Nuggets in Colorado on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Lakers looked to be in trouble after an explosive first half from Denver, who surged into a 71-57 lead at the break thanks to 26 points from Jamal Murray.<\/p>\n
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But an improved Los Angeles defensive effort stymied Murray after half-time, and Doncic and LeBron James kept the points flowing as the Lakers fought back to claim an impressive win.<\/p>\n
Doncic finished with 38 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists while James added 19 points, nine rebounds and eight assists as the Lakers outscored Denver 58-36 in the second half.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were playing great basketball, Murray playing at an All-Star level \u2026 they have a lot of great players,\u201d Doncic said. \u201cWe just stayed together and fought this out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Lakers improved to 26-16 with the victory, while third-placed Denver fell to 29-15.<\/p>\n
Alperen Sengun, right, and the Houston Rockets defeated Victor Wembanyama\u2019s San Antonio Spurs at the Toyota Center on January 20, 2026, in Houston, US [Kenneth Richmond\/Getty Images via AFP]Rockets win Texas derby against Spurs<\/p>\n
In San Francisco, the Golden State Warriors, still reeling from a season-ending knee injury sustained by Jimmy Butler on Monday, were thumped 145-127 by the Toronto Raptors.<\/p>\n
Immanuel Quickley led the Toronto scoring with 40 points in a wire-to-wire win.<\/p>\n
In Houston, the Rockets snapped the San Antonio Spurs\u2019 three-game winning streak, overturning a 16-point deficit to score a 111-106 win over their in-form Texas rivals.<\/p>\n
Reed Sheppard led the scoring with a blistering 21-point cameo off the bench, pouring in 12 points in the fourth quarter to drag Houston over the line.<\/p>\n
Turkish international Alperen Sengun added 20 points and Kevin Durant finished with 18 to give Houston the win.<\/p>\n
The Rockets trailed by 16 points in the third quarter before a 13-0 run helped them erase San Antonio\u2019s advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had good energy the whole game,\u201d Sheppard said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we cut the lead a little bit there in the fourth quarter, it was just \u2018keep fighting, keep staying together, we\u2019re close, keep putting the pieces together and go on a big run\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s what we did. It was a great team effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
San Antonio looked to be cruising after a fast start, outscoring Houston 39-28 in the first quarter before taking a 70-60 halftime lead.<\/p>\n
But the Spurs\u2019 shooting accuracy evaporated in the fourth quarter as they made only 7-of-28 from the field, and failed to make a single three-pointer from 13 attempts.<\/p>\n
Julian Champagnie led San Antonio\u2019s scoring with 27 points, while Victor Wembanyama and De\u2019Aaron Fox added 14 points apiece.<\/p>\n
In other games on Tuesday, the Chicago Bulls unleashed 25 three-pointers in a 138-110 home rout of the Los Angeles Clippers, Coby White leading the scorers with 27 points.<\/p>\n
In Salt Lake City, Keyonte George scored 43 points to upstage a 38-point display from Anthony Edwards as the lowly Utah Jazz upset the Minnesota Timberwolves 127-122.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers star had one of his most impactful games of the season to propel his side…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,726,590,44,588,85,1055,6075],"class_list":{"0":"post-427717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-us-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}