James Harden had 23 points and 11 assists and Joe Harris scored 21 points as the Brooklyn Nets beat the host Los Angeles Lakers 109-98 on Thursday.

Kyrie Irving contributed 16 points and seven rebounds for the Nets, who captured their fifth consecutive victory. Reserve Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot scored 15 points while making 5 of 8 3-point attempts. Harris was 6 of 7 from 3-point range.

Brooklyn's Kevin Durant (hamstring) missed his third straight contest.

LeBron James had 32 points on 14-of-23 shooting while adding eight rebounds and seven assists for the Lakers, who played without Dennis Schroder (health and safety protocols). They already were without Anthony Davis, who is expected to be sidelined at least two to three weeks due to a calf strain.

Kyle Kuzma contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds and Montrezl Harrell chipped in 10 points for Los Angeles, which has dropped two of its past three contests.

The Nets' 3-point shooting played a big role in the outcome. Brooklyn converted 18 of 39 (46.2 percent) from long distance compared to 8 of 30 (26.7 percent) for the Lakers. Overall, the Nets connected on 49.4 percent of their shots compared to 48.2 percent for the Lakers.

Brooklyn, which led 90-74 after three quarters, put the game out of reach midway through the fourth.

The Nets held a 31-24 lead after one quarter and increased the margin in the second. Irving followed his own miss with a basket for a 60-41 advantage with 3:08 left in the second quarter.

However, the Lakers closed the half on a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to 64-53 at the break.

Overall, Los Angeles committed 16 turnovers to 14 for Brooklyn.

A free throw by James late in the second quarter allowed him to reach 35,000 career points. James, who ended the night with 35,017 points, became just the third NBA player to hit the milestone, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) and Karl Malone (36,928).

--Field Level Media