Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James became the first player in NBA history to make 3,000 career playoff field goals.
James accomplished the feat with his second basket of Game 4 against the Houston Rockets. James has a sizable lead on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2,356) and Michael Jordan (2,188) for most-made playoff field goals and will only continue to add to his totals as the Lakers extend their postseason.
While Los Angeles lost to Houston in a rough performance, James’ milestone is still worth celebrating as he continues to redefine how long stars can play at an effective level. Although James finished the night with just 10 points and committed eight turnovers, history suggests that he and the Lakers will bounce back once the Rockets come to town for Game 5 on Wednesday.
At 41 years old, James’ longevity sets him apart from his peers and it’s fair to wonder how much longer he can keep this production up. His future has been an open question mark all season and he remains non-committal to playing beyond this year.
However, there’s no doubt that the Lakers could still use James even in the twilight of his career as he’s proven he can still drive wins in the playoffs. The series against Houston is the perfect example as Los Angeles is on the verge of advancing largely in part to James who has led the way with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves sidelined.
With so much postseason experience under his belt, James understands full well that a series isn’t over until a team’s officially won four games. The Lakers are certainly in the driver’s seat the rest of the way, but James emphasized they’re not comfortable despite their 3-1 lead.
Coming home back to Crypto.com Arena should be a boost for the Lakers, especially if Reaves is finally able to make his return to the floor. While James has been excellent running the offense, getting Reaves back to help ease the scoring and playmaking burden could be just what the team needs to finally get past the Rockets.
LeBron James blames Game 4 loss on turnovers
While James was the hero in Game 3 after forcing overtime with a crunch time 3-pointer, he looked far from himself in Game 4. James was uncharacteristically sloppy with the basketball, but also struggled with Houston’s full-court pressuring.
It wasn’t just James, though, as the rest of Los Angeles’ ball-handlers couldn’t take care of the basketball either. After the game, James was quick to point to the turnovers as the reason why the Lakers lost but also acknowledged the team needs to be better offensively as a whole.
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