LOS ANGELES – With the Lakers playing without Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić for the rest of the regular season, plenty of people have written LA off. That’s understandable, as most teams can’t get far without their two top scorers.
However, those teams aren’t the Lakers, and they don’t employ LeBron James.
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In LA’s road win over Golden State on Thursday, LeBron was brilliant. He finished the night with 26 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists to help end the Lakers’ three-game losing streak.
With the Lakers scheduled to play another game Friday night at home, LeBron, as the NBA’s oldest player, suited up for the back-to-back and raised his level of play once again.
James dominated, leading the Lakers in points, assists, steals and minutes played, lifting them past the Suns 101-73.
The back-to-back wins, paired with the Rockets’ loss to the Wolves, mean the lowest seed the Lakers can finish is fourth.
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When Dončić and Reaves went down, and they lost three straight, having home court seemed like an impossibility, and even head coach JJ Redick said seeding was “out the window.”
Thanks to James’ efforts, LA will remain a top seed in a very competitive Western Conference.
“We’re gonna need him to facilitate,” Redick said postgame. “We’re gonna need him to score. We’re gonna need him to defend and rebound. I think he recognizes the task at hand. He’s very locked in. He’s played great all three games.”
It was clear from the jump that LeBron was ready to compete at a high level on Friday night.
He knocked down a corner three early on to put himself on the board. James then hits a trio of free throws and then another three. Then, the league’s all-time leading scorer completed this scoring outburst with an emphatic dunk.
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His two-handed slam shook the basket and rocked the crowd. With 4:53 left to go in the opening quarter, James had 14 points, which was as many as Phoenix had as a team.
This isn’t new for LeBron. He has been the best player and top performer on each team he’s been on throughout most of his NBA career.
But this season, with Luka cemented as the clear No. 1 and Reaves establishing himself as No. 2, LeBron had to embrace being the third-most-important player.
To his credit, he’s done that and sacrificed for the betterment of the team. Now, due to injuries to the top guys, they’ve needed LeBron to go back in his closet and pull out his Superman cape. Luckily for the Lakers, it still fits perfectly, and he knows what to do with it.
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“Just trying to make plays,” LeBron said. I had to tap back into a role that I’ve been accustomed to in the past, but obviously, it wasn’t what it was this year. But circumstances have put me back in, and I’m just trying to feed off my teammates, teammates feeding off of me and just trying to make things happen for us to continue to stay afloat.”
As is typical of LeBron’s performances, he dominated all phases of the game. In the first half, his scoring shined, but in the second, it was his defense that stood out.
LeBron was as alert as ever, swatting at balls and intercepting passes. Three of his four steals came after halftime.
In the fourth, James’ on-ball creation was on full display. He was dishing out dimes that led to easy dunks for Jake LaRavia, Jarred Vanderbilt and Maxi Kleber. This put the game to rest early, allowing LeBron to check out at the 6:19 mark.
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With just one contest left, the Lakers can still reach the third seed if they win and the Nuggets lose.
Whether that happens or not, what’s clear is that LeBron playing at this level gives the Lakers a puncher’s chance at taking down any of the teams they’ll play in a seven-game series.
And this late in the season, that’s all any team can ask for.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
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