Frank Vogel lauded the "terrific" LeBron James after he set the tone for the Los Angeles Lakers' 120-94 defeat of the injury-hit Golden State Warriors.

Lakers superstar James scored a game-high 23 points and laid on 12 assists at Staples Center on Wednesday.

James starred with Anthony Davis ruled out due to shoulder and rib soreness as the Lakers sealed back-to-back wins after seeing off the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday.

Lakers head coach Vogel was full of praise for the four-time NBA MVP after the Western Conference leaders improved to 9-2.

"Historically he's played really well in the second night of back-to-backs," Vogel said of the 34-year-old forward. "He was terrific early and really the whole night.

"But for him to come in and set the tone for our group, with regards to the importance of this game and how we're going to plan, how we're going to approach it, everybody else followed the lead and really competed.

"We know Golden State is under-manned but you still have to go out and play with energy and perform and LeBron set the tone for our whole team with that."

James took great satisfaction from the Lakers showing their unselfishness by amassing 31 assists on the night and knew he had to step up in the absence of Davis.

"I think we pay attention to detail in our game plan, I think offensively once again had another 30 assists, it's huge for our ball club, everyone involved," James said.

He added: "With AD being out, knowing I had to pick up the load offensively, but I was just trying to set the tone early in the game, see if my shot was going in - and it was. Just trying to be aggressive."