Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James turned in another exceptional season despite being 40 years of age, although the back half was unfortunately plagued by injuries.
After missing a couple of weeks with a groin strain, James returned and was gearing up for the start of the postseason. In his final regular season game against the Houston Rockets though, LeBron appeared to tweak his groin and wound up sitting out the rest of the night with things being out of reach.
James showed up on the Lakers’ injury report for Game 1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves with what the team categorized as a left hip flexor strain. While it did not affect his availability, it was clear in the first two games of the series that he was not 100% healthy.
That was not the case in Game 3, however, as despite the Lakers’ loss, James did everything he could to keep his team in it. LeBron led all scorers with 38 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 41 minutes.
After the game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick revealed that James’ injury would usually force him to miss some time but the good news is he is finally starting to look better physically, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“He’s moving better. He seems like he’s getting healthier by the day. It’s typically a 1-2 week injury and I believe it’s been two weeks tonight, if I’m not mistaken, from the Houston game. Clearly he’s moving better.”
Even though the Lakers face a 2-1 series deficit to the Timberwolves, having a fully healthy James is great to see and will be key if this team wants to make any sort of run.
Luka Doncic wasn’t at 100% in Game 3 due to an illness, forcing James to pick up the slack as his co-star did in the first two games. With an extremely important Game 4 coming up on Sunday afternoon, the hope is that both Doncic and James will be close to 100% healthy as L.A. looks to steal one on the road and even up the series.
Anthony Edwards praises LeBron James for Game 3 performance
LeBron James was exceptional for the Lakers in Game 3, and Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards gave some praise to the 40-year-old.
“He was incredible. He did everything he could in his power to try to will them to a win. He was shooting it from Yucatan. For sure, he was shooting it crazy. He caught one of them in transition and I was like kinda closing out and I’m like ‘He not about to shoot this.’ And he launched. I’m not gonna lie, it was fun to be watching him and competing against him today, for sure.”
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