Anthony Davis is enjoying his best stretch of the season and the Los Angeles Lakers aim to extend their season-long winning streak to four games Tuesday night when they visit the Phoenix Suns.

Davis hadn’t reached the 30-point mark prior to the current run but he is averaging 35 points a game during the span after outings of 37, 38 and 30 points.

Davis also is averaging 17.3 rebounds during a stretch in which the Lakers are playing without LeBron James (adductor), who is listed as questionable for Tuesday and could miss his fifth consecutive game.

Los Angeles coach Darvin Ham said the club will continue to be cautious with James. He sees no reason to rush things with the season not even 20 percent over.

“There’s no need to be in a hurry with him,” Ham said. “He’s going to definitely play a big bulk of games this season. It’s November.

“We have time on our side. … We just want to be as cautious as possible. So, again, it doesn’t turn into something that he’s constantly dealing with all season.”

Russell Westbrook was also ailing after injuring his right thumb during Sunday’s game. But post-game X-rays were negative, and Westbrook did not appear on Monday’s injury report, signaling he will play Tuesday.

In the Lakers’ 123-92 trouncing of the visiting San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, Davis had 30 points and matched his season best of 18 rebounds in only 27 minutes, 46 seconds on the court. The team reported Monday that the performance marked the first time a Laker had amassed 30 points and 15 rebounds in less than 30 minutes of action since Wilt Chamberlain did it in 1969.

He also became just the third player in Lakers history to post 30 points and 15 rebounds in three consecutive games, joining Shaquille O’Neal and Elgin Baylor.

“Everybody’s confidence is very high, while not getting too high,” Davis said. “Feels good to get three in a row. Now we’ve just got to carry it over to the road. Got to put some more wins together.”

The Lakers, after all, started the season 0-5, and won just two of their first 12 games before the current three-game winning streak.

Los Angeles is opening a three-game road against the Suns, a team they struggled with last season. Phoenix went 4-0 against the Lakers with the wins coming by an average of 17 points.

The Lakers complete the short trip with back-to-back contests in San Antonio on Friday and Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Suns are expected to be without point guard Chris Paul (heel) for the seventh straight game. Phoenix coach Monty Williams said the team will continue to be cautious about the 37-year-old’s health.

Cameron Payne continues to step up in place of Paul and he scored 21 points in Sunday’s 116-95 home triumph over the New York Knicks.

Payne has topped 20 points four times during the stretch while averaging 20.2 points and 6.3 assists. He also has made 20 of 44 (45.5 percent) from 3-point range while thriving as a starter.

“I feel like just being out there longer, you get to see the full game of how I play,” Payne said. “You see the full game instead of just a snippet. Like 12 minutes. So being out there on the floor definitely has been helping me, playing through mistakes.”

Phoenix is 8-1 at home — the Lakers are 0-5 on the road — but has sputtered since opening the season with six wins in seven games.

The Suns are just 4-5 since the solid start but haven’t been able to maintain it with Paul, forward Cameron Johnson (knee) and backup guard Landry Shamet (concussion) out of the lineup.

–Field Level Media

When the Denver Nuggets had to play without three starters — including two-time MVP Nikola Jokic — for successive games against the Mavericks in Dallas, Friday’s 28-point loss to Dallas was not unexpected, but Denver’s impressive response in Sunday night’s rematch was downright surprising.

The Nuggets not only played better — they beat the Mavericks 98-97 to earn a split.

On Tuesday night, Denver will try to replicate that performance when it hosts the slumping Detroit Pistons.

Denver did not practice Monday and has not updated the status of Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon, who did not make the two-game trip to Dallas. Jokic (three games) and Murray (two games) are in health and safety protocol, and Gordon has missed three games with a non-COVID illness.

It was understandable that the Mavericks took advantage of the absences Friday night, but Bones Hyland said he took the loss personally — and Sunday he did something about it. He scored 13 of his career-high 29 points in the fourth quarter.

Hyland skipped an optional shooting day Saturday to study film from Friday.

“I didn’t go,” he told The Denver Post. “I stayed in my room and I just watched film. I was so mad from the first game and how we lost. … We don’t lose like that. With who we got, we can beat any team.”

It would help to get the reigning MVP back as well as Murray and Gordon. Without them in the lineup, the Nuggets’ bench was stretched thin but overcame the disadvantage to stop a two-game losing streak.

“You don’t even have a margin for error,” coach Michael Malone said.

Denver will face a Pistons team coming off a tough loss at Sacramento, Detroit’s seventh loss in a row. Cade Cunningham has missed six games with left-shin soreness and could miss much more time with what the team fears is a stress fracture.

Detroit also has played the past three games with Isaiah Stewart (big-toe strain), and Saddiq Bey missed Sunday’s loss with a foot strain.

Even with that, the Pistons nearly beat the surprising Kings. Detroit led late in the fourth quarter before Sacramento went on a run to win 137-129.

“We showed toughness,” Cory Joseph said. “Obviously, we didn’t get the job done, which is the main goal, but we showed scrappiness, toughness. We had opportunities at times to extend the lead or hold onto it. We just made too many mistakes mentally. We played hard though, but at a certain time you just can’t hang your hat on playing hard.”

Since winning on opening night, Detroit has lost 13 of 15 games and has the worst record in the NBA.

–Field Level Media

Coming off his best showing for the Brooklyn Nets since being traded from the 76ers, Ben Simmons heads into Tuesday’s return to Philadelphia feeling good even while anticipating the reaction from 76ers’ fans.

“In Philly? Come on now, I know what’s coming,” Simmons said. “That’s part of the game. Philly fans, one thing about Philly fans is they are incredible. They are diehard Philly and they are everything Philly, whatever it is. I respect that about the city. It’s a sports town.”

Given their injury woes, Philadelphia will not be necessarily focused on the return of Simmons, who averaged 15.9 points in 275 regular-season games for them before making his last appearance with the team in Game 7 of the 2021 Eastern Conference semifinals.

The 76ers will be without star Joel Embiid with a left mid-foot sprain Saturday night and will miss at least two games.

Already without James Harden for another two weeks because of a strained right foot, the Sixers lost Tyrese Maxey to a broken left foot Friday, and then Embiid injured his foot Saturday after colliding with teammate Georges Niang in the second half of a 112-109 loss to the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves. Tobias Harris (sore left hip), Furkan Korkmaz (knee) missed Saturday’s game, and defensive specialist P.J. Tucker — who often guards Brooklyn star Kevin Durant — left that game due to an unspecified injury.

Simmons is averaging 7.9 points in his first 12 games with the Nets, who obtained him from Philadelphia before last season’s trade deadline along with Seth Curry when Harden sought a trade. When the Nets played in Philadelphia on March 10, Simmons sat on the bench as he missed the final two months with a back injury.

“I was 18 years old coming into Philly, so it’s really the only place I’ve lived as an adult,” Simmons said. “So I have a lot of love for that city. People don’t know that, but a lot of my best friends are from Philadelphia. My brother still lives in Philadelphia. So regardless of the situation, whatever happened, happened. But I got a lot of love for that city still, so I look forward to going down there and playing.”

Simmons started slowly by averaging 5.2 points in his first nine games, but in his past three, the former No. 1 overall pick is averaging 16 points, 8.7 rebounds and five assists while making 84.6 percent (22 of 26) of his shots.

On Sunday, he helped the Nets get their sixth win in nine games by scoring 22 points on 11-of-13 shooting and a team-high eight rebounds in a 127-115 win over the visiting Memphis Grizzlies. Simmons’ efficient showing was part of a Brooklyn performance in which they shot 60.2 percent with a season-high 33 assists.

“I expect this from Ben,” Durant said. “So when he plays well, I’m not going to get excited about it.”

Durant scored 26 points, making it 17 in a row with at least 25 points while Kyrie Irving finished with 14 in 26 minutes in his return from a team-imposed suspension that lasted eight games.

–Field Level Media

The last team to see the “old” Sacramento Kings will become the 12th to experience the new-and-improved edition when the Western Conference’s hottest team visits the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night.

The last time the clubs met, the Grizzlies handed the Kings their fourth consecutive loss to open the season as the Grizzlies got 31 points from Desmond Bane in a 125-110 victory in Sacramento.

Much has changed in the nearly four weeks since. While the Kings have won nine of 11, including six in a row, the Grizzlies are just 6-6 while losing Bane to a sprained right big toe and Ja Morant to a sprained left ankle.

Sacramento’s winning ways figure to get tested on a four-day trip to Memphis, Atlanta and Boston that will sandwich Thanksgiving.

The winning streak has featured double-figures scoring from seven different players, including De’Aaron Fox, who has used 57.7 percent shooting to fashion a 24-point scoring average during the run.

Fox hit 11 of 18 shots from the field and totaled 33 points in Sunday’s 137-129 home win over the Detroit Pistons, a game in which the Kings topped 130 points for the third straight time and 120 for the sixth consecutive game.

“This is the best basketball (he’s) played in his career,” teammate Harrison Barnes said of Fox. “He’s playing at an All-Star level. He’s doing it on the offensive end (and the) defensive end. Getting guys involved. Just all over the place making plays happen.”

Fox had 27 points and Barnes 20 in the earlier loss to Memphis, while Domantas Sabonis missed a triple-double by one assist.

While their outstanding play has continued, a key to the Kings’ improvement has come via the 3-point shooting of Kevin Huerter and Terence Davis, who have combined to go 32-for-64 during the winning streak.

Over the six games, Sacramento has shot 40.8 percent from 3-point range, the fourth-best mark in the league over that stretch.

Meanwhile, the Grizzlies have lost their way defensively. After holding Charlotte and Washington to 99 and 97 points in the final two outings of a three-game winning streak at the beginning of the month, Memphis has watched each of its past seven opponents go for 102 or more.

Two of those foes topped 120, including the Brooklyn Nets in a 127-115 home win over Memphis on Sunday. Dillon Brooks paced the short-handed Grizzlies with 31 points.

Jaren Jackson Jr. joined Bane and Morant on the sidelines Sunday because he’s being brought along slowly following off-season surgery on his right foot. He’s expected back to face the Kings.

“You take it in stride,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said of the inconsistent lineups. “You control what you can control. We just got to rely on our depth.”

Memphis is 0-2 this season in games in which neither Bane nor Morant has played. Tyus Jones has started both of those games and has averaged 15 points and 5.5 assists.

–Field Level Media

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid will miss at least two games with a left mid-foot sprain.

He has been ruled out for Tuesday’s home game against Brooklyn and Wednesday’s contest at Charlotte. His earliest possible return is Friday at Orlando.

Embiid got hurt during Saturday night’s 112-109 loss to the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves when he tripped over teammate Georges Niang. He remained in the game and finished with 32 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals in 36 minutes.

Including a career-high 59-point game against the Utah Jazz on Nov. 13, Embiid has averaged 37.3 points and 10.7 rebounds over his past six games.

Embiid, 28, is averaging 32.3 points, 10.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists in 12 starts this season. The five-time All-Star won the NBA scoring title last season with 30.6 points per game.

Teammates James Harden and Tyrese Maxey are also dealing with foot injuries. Harden has not played since Nov. 2 due to a foot strain, while Maxey is expected to miss three to four weeks with a small bone fracture in his left foot.

–Field Level Media