DALLAS _ With Anthony Davis dressed in a jacket and jeans while sitting on the Los Angeles Lakers bench, unable to play because of a bruised backside, a weary LeBron James was forced to lead the attack.
To make matters even more challenging for the Lakers, James and starting guard Avery Bradley were ill before entering Friday night's game against NBA sensation Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center.
Despite all that, the Lakers built a 22-point lead in the second quarter and rode a sterling performance by James to pull out an impressive 129-114 win over the Mavericks before 20,542 fans.
James came up three assists short of another triple-double, finishing with 35 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.
James played through flu-like symptoms, logging 32 minutes and going 14-for-25 from the field.
They Lakers also turned to Kyle Kuzma to start in place of Davis, and a zone defense.
Kuzma scored a season-high 26 points to go along with six rebounds and two assists.
Doncic had 25 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Davis sustained the injury against the New York Knicks Tuesday night at Staples Center.
He has missed two games before this one against the Mavericks, one with a shoulder injury against the Golden State Warriors and one with an ankle injury against the Indiana Pacers.
The Lakers play a back-to-back game Saturday night at Oklahoma City, but Lakers coach Frank Vogel wasn't willing to commit to having Davis back then.
"He still has the injury and is not ready to play," Vogel said. "We'll see how he is tomorrow."
The Lakers ripped into the Mavericks' defense from the start, scoring 45 points in the first, a season-high for points in a quarter.
The Lakers followed that up by dropping 79 points on the Mavericks by intermission, a season-high for points in a half.
