Even without his two co-stars in the lineup, LeBron James has gotten the Los Angeles Lakers out to a perfect start this postseason, taking a 2-0 series lead on the Houston Rockets after back-to-back wins at home.
Most people counted the Lakers out when Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves went down with injuries, but James has been able to flip the script, with some help from Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart and others. James has been doing this for a long time, and after the Game 2 win, he talked about how much he lives for these moments in the postseason.
“I don’t know. Just kind of living in the moment, I guess. I don’t know how many more opportunities I’ll get to play in the postseason in my career. But shit, I live for this moment. I live for the postseason,” James said.
“I’ve been doing this since I was 20, 21. I think my first postseason game was at 21. So, 20 years. I know I missed it a couple of times, but from that moment at 21, that first game I made my mark and for 20 years I’ve been thinking about the postseason. So, I don’t shy away from it.”
The Lakers took care of business in Game 1 when Kevin Durant was out, but with the Rockets star returning in Game 2, James and L.A. were again heavy underdogs.
James was brilliant on both ends of the floor in the Game 2 win though, leading all scorers with 28 points on 8-of-20 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists. He was running the Lakers’ offense to perfection and attacking the basket all night, getting to the free throw line 14 times.
While they still have a long way to go, the Lakers are putting themselves in a position where they can beat the Rockets without their two leading scorers, and then potentially get both Doncic and Reaves back in the second round.
James has a lot of incredible accomplishments throughout his 23-year career, but what he is doing now at his age with this team around him is right up there with anything else he has done.
LeBron James reats to reverse dunk
James turned back the clock in Game 2 as he finished a reverse dunk in style in transition. After the win, he admitted he had no clue why he was attempting that at his age.
“I don’t even know what that was about. I got to sit the hell down. I got to sit down somewhere,” James said.
James has played the most minutes in NBA history, but he is still going strong and looks poised to help the Lakers make a legit run this postseason.
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