Russell, James help Lakers win 4th straight, move into 8th place with 116-97 victory over Cavaliers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — D’Angelo Russell scored 28 points, LeBron James added 24 and the Los Angeles Lakers extended their winning streak to four with a 116-97 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday, moving into eighth place in the Western Conference.

Anthony Davis added 22 points and 13 rebounds as the Lakers improved to 45-33 with their ninth win in 10 games.

They still are in position to land in the play-in tournament, but finishing seventh or eighth means they would only need to win one game to earn a playoff spot.

“We’re very confident in our ballclub," Davis said. "We laugh about like, oh, winning nine out of 10, you know, 10 out of 11, whatever. and we’re not gaining anywhere. That's how good the West is.”

It is the first time since Dec. 29 the Lakers have been eighth in the conference. With four regular-season games remaining though, coach Darvin Ham isn't focused on seeding but on the Lakers having momentum going into the postseason.

“Just take care of us. Continue to look for ways to get better individually and collectively. Everything else will take of itself,” he said. "We’ll fall exactly in the spot we’re supposed to fall, but the key is for us to be playing at a high level on both sides of the ball.’

Darius Garland scored 26 points for Cleveland and Caris LeVert had 21 off the bench. The Cavaliers (46-32) remained in third place in the East but have dropped two straight and three of their last four.

“I thought we did some really good things in spurts. We just couldn’t sustain it enough to come out with a win,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “The turnovers kind of bit us in the butt. We also forced turnovers and didn't convert on them.”

Russell had six 3-pointers, including five in the first half, when his 23 points helped the Lakers take a nine-point lead.

James improved to 18-4 against his former team, where he played for 11 seasons in two different stints. He had a pair of alley-oop dunks against the team he led to its lone NBA title in 2016.

Davis scored 11 points in the third quarter, including nine during a 19-0 run. Cleveland led 71-67 before the Lakers regained control during a four-minute span.

“Once we defend we get stops and hold teams to one shot, what we do offensively is through the roof. It's hard to contain us,” Ham said.

Los Angeles jumped out to a 16-point lead early in the second quarter with a 24-4 run before Cleveland got it down to 65-56 at halftime.

Garland, who tied a career high with five steals, had a pair of 3-pointers as the Cavaliers began the second half with an 11-2 spurt to tie it at 67-all.

UP NEXT

Cavaliers: Remain in Los Angeles to face the Clippers on Sunday afternoon.

Lakers: Host the Minnesota Timberwolves Sunday night.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) reacts after being called for a foul during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) directs his teammates as he dribbles up the court during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (3) makes a lay-up under pressure from Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen (31) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura (28) drives past Cleveland Cavaliers guard Caris LeVert (3) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) reacts after making a 3-point basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Marcus Morris Sr. (24) dribbles under pressure from Los Angeles Lakers forward Taurean Prince (12) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) dribbles against Cleveland Cavaliers forward Marcus Morris Sr. (24)during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/William Liang)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday emphasized that inflation has remained stubbornly high in recent months and said it doesn’t plan to cut interest rates until it has “greater confidence” that price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2% target.

The Fed issued its decision in a statement after its latest meeting, at which it kept its key rate at a two-decade high of roughly 5.3%. Several hotter-than-expected reports on prices and economic growth have recently undercut the Fed’s belief that inflation was steadily easing. The combination of high interest rates and persistent inflation has also emerged as a potential threat to President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.

“In recent months," Chair Jerome Powell said at a news conference, “inflation has shown a lack of further progress toward our 2% objective."

“It is likely that gaining greater confidence,” he added, "will take longer than previously expected.”

The Fed chair stressed, as he has before, that the central bank's decision on when to cut rates will depend on the latest economic data. But he struck a note of optimism, saying, “My expectation is that over the course of this year, we will see inflation move back down.”

Wall Street traders cheered the prospect that the Fed will cut rates at some point this year, even if not as soon as they had hoped. Share prices surged and yields fell during Powell's news conference, with stock indexes all rising more than 1%.

Still, the central bank’s latest message reflects a shift in its timetable on interest rates. As recently as their last meeting on March 20, the Fed’s policymakers had projected three rate reductions in 2024, likely starting in June. Rate cuts by the Fed would lead, over time, to lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, including for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards. But given the persistence of elevated inflation, financial markets now expect just one rate cut this year, in November, according to futures prices tracked by CME FedWatch.

The Fed’s warier outlook stems from three months of data that pointed to chronic inflation pressures and robust consumer spending. Inflation has cooled from a peak of 7.1%, according to the Fed’s preferred measure, to 2.7%, as supply chains have eased and the cost of some goods has actually declined.

Average prices, though, remain well above their pre-pandemic levels, and the costs of services ranging from apartment rents and health care to restaurant meals and auto insurance continue to surge. With the presidential election six months away, many Americans have expressed discontent with the economy, notably over the pace of price increases.

On Wednesday, the Fed announced that it would slow the pace at which it’s unwinding one of its biggest COVID-era policies: Its purchase of several trillion dollars in Treasury securities and mortgage-backed bonds, an effort to stabilize financial markets and keep longer-term rates low.

The Fed is now allowing $95 billion of those securities to mature each month, without replacing them. Its holdings have fallen to about $7.4 trillion, down from $8.9 trillion in June 2022, when it began reducing them. On Wednesday, the Fed said it would, in June, reduce its holdings at a slower pace, and allow a total of $60 billion of bonds to run off each month.

By cutting back its holdings, the Fed could contribute to keeping longer-term rates, including mortgage rates, higher than they would be otherwise. That’s because as it reduces its bond holdings, other buyers will have to buy the securities instead, and rates might have to rise to attract the needed buyers.

The U.S. economy is healthier and hiring stronger than most economists thought it would be at this point. The unemployment rate has remained below 4% for more than two years, the longest such streak since the 1960s. And while economic growth reached just a 1.6% annual pace in the first three months of this year, consumer spending grew at a robust pace, a sign that the economy will keep expanding.

That economic strength has led some Fed officials to speculate that the current level of interest rates might not be high enough to have the cooling effect on the economy and inflation that they need — and that the policymakers might even need to switch back to rate increases.

But at Wednesday's news conference, Powell sought to dispel such speculation, saying, "I think it’s unlikely that the next policy rate move will be a hike.”

He also downplayed any concerns that the economy might be at risk of sliding into “stagflation” — a toxic combination of weak growth, high unemployment and elevated inflation that afflicted the United States during the 1970s.

“I was around for stagflation," Powell said, "and it was 10% unemployment, it was high-single-digit inflation. And very slow growth. Right now, we have 3% growth which is pretty solid growth, I would say, by any measure. And we have inflation running under 3%. ...I don’t see the ‘stag’ or the ‘flation,’ actually.”

FILE - Federal Reserve Board chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference at the Federal Reserve in Washington, March 20, 2024. The Federal Reserve wraps up its two-day policy meeting Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Most analysts expect that the central bank will leave its benchmark borrowing rate alone for the sixth straight meeting. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)