Saturday night was another test for LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers in the Denver Nuggets. Los Angeles’ downside this season has been not beating above .500 teams and they beat both the Minnesota Timberwolves and the New York Knicks in a week span.
Denver is battling for playoff seeding themselves, seeking homecourt advantage in the first round. This game against L.A. determined the tiebreaker. In recent history, the Nuggets have owned the Lakers with seemingly every game playing out the same way.
After going up as much as 17, Nikola Jokic and company stormed back to take a late fourth-quarter lead. With Los Angeles trying to mount a comeback, a key play was James diving for a loose ball that resulted in a jump ball.
Unfortunately, he lost the tip to Jamal Murray, but it was an energizing play to show how badly he wanted to win. Head coach JJ Redick said tongue-in-cheek he never saw James make a play like that in his 23-year career.
“After the game, I said, ‘In 23 years of watching you play in the NBA and the three years I watched him play in high school, I never saw him make a full-out extension dive like that.’ He said, ‘You’re right. I’ve never done that.’ It’s awesome. I know he’ll feel that tomorrow, but that’s a winning play. The charges and the loose balls. I thought we challenged Austin [Reaves], prior to the game. I didn’t think he gave the requisite physicality when we lost there in Denver, at times defensively. I thought down the stretch of regulation and in overtime he was phenomenal defensively. He got 50-50 balls, he got deflections, he got steals and made a catch tough on [Nikola] Jokić. That’s what I said to the team. There were two things that stood out. So many guys made winning plays and we went into this game saying that we’re going to treat this like a playoff game. This time of year, with the standings the way they are, a chance to get the tiebreaker over Denver. [We] treat this like a playoff game. Our guys approached it like a playoff game. They played it like a playoff game. It wasn’t perfect, but they stuck with it, so that the winning plays really stood out. Their ability in high-pressure situations to execute multiple end of game situations was really high level.”
The 41-year-old knew what was on the line against Denver and in that moment, knowing every possession mattered, he dove for the ball.
“No, just living in the moment [and] understand the impact of the game, implications of the game and our opponent and what we’re trying to build. So, every possession matters.”
Both teams traded haymakers and while the Lakers did not play perfect basketball, they clearly battled to earn that must-win. If James continues to find other ways to impact winning, their ceiling can rise considerably with his rebounding and backline defense.
L.A. passed three daunting tests and now two more await in Houston, with the Rockets right behind them for the No. 3 seed.
LeBron James: Saturday’s game-winner was ‘first of many’ for Luka Doncic with Lakers
To come away with their first overtime win of the year, the Lakers needed every contribution from their stars. Starting with Luka Doncic as the first option, dropping a 30-point triple-double and coming through with the game-winner.
LeBron James gave Doncic his flowers following an emotionally and physically draining win. In what was the first game-winner of his Lakers tenure, James thinks it will be the first of many moving forward.
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