NBA round-up: Celtics survive Raptors in overtime, Lakers defeat New Orleans
The Lakers, who also got 27 points from rookie Dalton Knecht, stretched their NBA win streak to five games and grabbed a share of third in the Western Conference at 9-4 despite James not managing a fifth consecutive triple double.
James finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists while Brandon Ingram had 32 points for the host Pelicans in a losing cause.
James made a three-pointer with 37 seconds remaining to give the Lakers a 101-97 lead. A layup by Jeremiah Robinson-Earl lifted the Pelicans within two but James and Knecht sank free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory.
At Toronto, Jayson Tatum sank a 28-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Boston Celtics a 126-123 overtime victory over the Raptors.
Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 27 points while Tatum just missed a triple double with 24 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.
Austrian center Jakob Poeltl led Toronto with 35 points.
At Charlotte, LaMelo Ball scored a game-high 26 points and sank two deciding free throws with 7.1 seconds remaining to give the Charlotte Hornets a 115-114 victory over Milwaukee.
Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo - who had his first triple double of the season with 22 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists - missed a potential game-winning jump shot with two seconds remaining.
Taurean Prince scored 23 points for the Bucks and Bobby Portis added 21 off the bench.
At Dallas, Kyrie Irving and reserve Daniel Gafford each scored 22 points and Luka Doncic added 16 to lead the host Mavericks over San Antonio 110-93. At 6-7, Dallas snapped a four-game losing skid.
"It's good. Our approach for the game was good, shootaround was great, energy was good, everybody was having a positive mindset going into today's game," Gafford said. "We know what we have to do. We're trying to figure it out on the fly."
The Spurs (6-8) were without star French big man Victor Wembanyama, who missed his first gane of the season with a bruised right knee.
He suffered the injury on Friday when he banged knees with Davis in the fourth quarter of a loss to the Lakers.
"Wemby" - last season's NBA Rookie of the Year - has averaged 22.7 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.7 blocked shots a game this season.
