Even at age 39 in the 21st season of his career, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is continuing to do things that have never been done before.
This time it was leading the Lakers to a double overtime win over Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, finishing with 36 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists in a ridiculous 48 minutes of action.
The 20 rebounds were a career-high for James, who became the oldest player in NBA history with at least 25 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a game.
It was almost all for naught though as the Lakers found themselves trailing by one in the final seconds of double overtime after a back-and-forth contest. At that point, James drove to the basket and got fouled by Draymond Green. He would then make both free throws to secure the win for L.A.
After the game, James talked through that final possession and how he was able to get it done for his team, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I don’t predetermine anything I do on the floor. Got a pretty good look in the first OT on one of my patented shots going left, little floater with the right hand, rimmed in and went out. I was able to get a little angle in the second OT and I was able to drive, took the Eurostep back to the right hand and get the call on Draymond and made the free throws.”
LeBron also discussed how good it was to come up with big plays late for his team given how important this win was for the Lakers:
“You go out there and you give everything that you got into the game just hoping that you can make plays. Then you hope that the plays that you make come in a winning fashion. So it’s just a good feeling to be able to win a game like this, to start off the road trip like this against a team that’s been playing extremely well too at home… It’s two teams that’s just trying to get back to winning ways so it was a good win for us.”
This was the first game of a season-long six-game road trip for the Lakers, so James is right that it was good to get a win to build some much-needed momentum before heading east.
As James continues to play at an extremely high level, it will be necessary moving forward for the Lakers to continue working their way up the standings.
LeBron James not taking rivalry with Stephen Curry for granted
Saturday night marked just the latest iteration of the rivalry between LeBron James and Stephen Curry, which is clearly still going strong.
After another epic battle between the two, James said he is not taking his rivalry with Curry for granted and is looking forward to telling his grandkids about them.
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