Doncic leads Lakers past Hawks, Wemby sparks Spurs

Luka Doncic scored 32 points as the in-form Los Angeles Lakers rolled to a sixth straight victory with a 124-114 defeat of the Atlanta Hawks on Monday.

Doncic, whose sensational early season form has propelled the Lakers to the top of the NBA Western Conference, once again led from the front to secure an impressive win on the road.

The Slovenian star finished with 32 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, five steals and two blocks in a dominant all-round performance.

Doncic, who is averaging 40 points per game so far this season, received offensive support from Sandro Mamukelashvili, who delivered an eye-catching 23 points from the bench that included five 3-pointers.

Walker Kessler added 21 points, with Collin Sexton scoring 18 and Ziaire Williams delivering 12.

Lakers coach JJ Redick paid tribute to the contributions of Doncic, Sexton and Mamukelashvili on a night when the team was missing Austin Reaves (illness) and Quentin Grimes (injury).

"I thought Collin did a really nice job of giving us some juice and Sandro had his best game as a Laker," Redick said. "That was awesome.

"Luka, again, just orchestrating. He was out there without a secondary ball handler, so he had to be on the ball a lot and that was taxing. I thought he handled it well," Redick added.

The Lakers improved to 10-2 at the top of the Western Conference following the win as Atlanta fell to 7-5.

The San Antonio Spurs, meanwhile, maintained their hot pursuit of the Lakers in the West, extending their winning streak to nine games after blowing out the Phoenix Suns 122-96 on the road to improve to 9-2.

Spurs star Victor Wembanyama — fresh from a career-high 52-point performance last week — was once again in dazzling form, dropping 40 points with 11 rebounds, eight blocks and three assists in a dominant victory.

"There's a lot of good going on, obviously," San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said of Wembanyama's rich vein of recent form.

"I think he's allowing the game to unfold naturally and he's doing a great job of putting himself in positions to take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of him. And his teammates are doing a good job of utilizing him when appropriate."

Eighth straight win

Stephen Curry scored 25 points in 20-plus minutes, Yaxel Lendeborg had 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and the Golden State Warriors won their eighth straight game by running away from the undermanned New Orleans Pelicans early for a 138-87 victory on Monday night.

Brandin Podziemski added 25 points, while Curry wound up six for 10 with four 3-pointers coming off a 41-point performance in Saturday's 126-119 overtime win against Orlando. He passed DeMar DeRozan (26,800) for 16th place on the NBA's career scoring list with 26,803.

Golden State had three players with at least 20 points for the second time this season and the Warriors finished with 30 or more assists — 37 — for the third straight game and fifth in the last six. They are 6-0 when doing so.

Injured guard Jimmy Butler dressed up like a member of the coaching staff and held a clipboard, writing "PASS TO STEPH" on it.

Derik Queen scored 16 points off the bench and Dejounte Murray added 12 points for the Pelicans, who were out of the game almost from the tipoff, trailing 72-43 at halftime and on the way to losing a third straight game after a four-game winning streak.

In other games on Monday, the Detroit Pistons improved to 7-3 with a 122-111 defeat of the Washington Wizards, thanks to 24 points from John Collins.

The Memphis Grizzlies are also on 7-3 after their 118-102 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

In Houston, Jamal Murray scored 38 points for the Denver Nuggets, but it was not enough to stop the Rockets from claiming a 110-100 victory.

Kevin Durant scored 23 points and Alperen Sengun added 20 as the Rockets halted their two-game losing streak.

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