Lebron Needs to Put Up 50 Again
LOS ANGELES -- LeBron James continues to redefine the standard for what a star is capable of at such a belatedly stage of his career.
James, 37, scored 50 points for the second time in his past three games in lifting the Lakers to a much-needed 122-109 win over the Washington Wizards on Friday.
The win came six days after James scored 56 against the Golden State Warriors, which was also a victory for L.A. The rub, of course, is that while the Lakers are 2-0 since the All-Star break when James goes for 50-plus points, they're 0-six in the rest of their games and are even so only No. 9 in the Western Conference at 29-37.
In a season when the Lakers haven't given fans much of a reason to want to pay for tickets to see them, James received a rare "MVP! MVP!" dirge from a sellout crowd at Crypto.com Arena. He said he appreciated the reception, considering how often boos have been heard in the building.
"Listen, the Laker faithful knows when bad basketball is being played and they know when good basketball is being played. They have the correct to have any response they want," James said. "They've seen so many keen teams, and then many corking individuals. ... Then for me, existence a office of this franchise, I feel like I just endeavor to give them an opportunity to take memorable nights every bit well.
"Try to give them something to cheer for, give them something to feel good about on a nightly basis, and I know information technology hasn't been as bang-up as they would like for information technology to be this year, merely you accept the modest wins when they come."
L.A. appeared to exist heading toward some other loss, downwardly by ix early on in the 3rd quarter, when James got cerise-hot. Midway through the menstruum, in a stretch that took less than ii minutes of game time, he scored 12 straight points for the Lakers to give them command of the game and stir the oversupply into a frenzy.
And he did it in a multifariousness of ways, starting the flurry with an 18-human foot fadeaway, followed past an and-ane layup, then a pull-upwards 3 from 31 feet. There likewise was a floating depository financial institution shot that he double-clutched before flicking it perfectly off the glass, and finally a fast-break dunk when he appeared to endeavour to pull the rim off its screws.
"The matter that stands out to me is, like, the league has never seen a role player at this stage of his career do what he'south doing," Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. "I think that's the biggest thing that needs to exist recognized. It's just unbelievable the level that he'southward playing at."
James finished the game shooting 18-for-25 from the field (72%), including 6-of-nine on three-pointers, and 8-of-8 from the gratuitous throw line.
And he did it in a game when he started at heart against a Washington team that had 7-foot-3 Kristaps Porzingis manning the middle for the opening tip.
"Maybe after all these years, him playing centre was really the all-time way to utilise him," Vogel said. "Because that'due south where he'southward been doing it, by playing the centre position with [Anthony Davis] out. Doing whatever the team needs to win games. And just an incredible, unbelievable, epic performance by LJ."
Information technology was the 14th fifty-point game of James' career, tying Rick Barry for the sixth almost all time, and his teams take at present won their by 12 games when he has gone for l or more. To underscore Vogel's point about James doing this at 37 and in his 19th season, consider that James became the first player in NBA history over the age of thirty to score 50 in dorsum-to-back abode games.
He has now scored 20 or more in xxx straight games, lifting his scoring average from 29.3 points per game to 29.vii per game to edge past Philadelphia's Joel Embiid for first identify in the race for the league scoring title.
"Merely always trying to stay present," James said when asked what has been working for him offensively of late. "And when game twenty-four hour period is here, I'm hither five hours before the game and prepping -- prepping on myself individually, prepping on what I demand to exercise to assist this team be victorious, prepping on everything I can possibly do in my power to endeavour to help this squad be equally bang-up as we can be that nighttime. And then, that'due south what goes into it."
James' night overshadowed the main storyline going into Friday's game -- the offseason merchandise the Lakers fabricated with the Wizards to learn Russell Westbrook in commutation for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and more.
Westbrook had five points on ii-for-eleven shooting, with nine assists and one turnover. Vogel pulled him with 8 minutes, 37 seconds remaining and kept him on the bench the rest of the way. L.A. is now iii-one this season when Vogel benches Westbrook tardily.
Vogel went with a closing lineup of James, Malik Monk (21 points), Talen Horton-Tucker (15 points), Austin Reaves (12 points) and Stanley Johnson that keyed a 29-xx run from the time Westbrook was subbed out until the final buzzer.
Kuzma, meanwhile, led Washington with 23 points, and Caldwell-Pope chipped in four points, going 1-for-6 from the floor.
"It was just almost having those guys in there to win," Vogel said of his closing lineup. "It wasn't any more than that."
Horton-Tucker picked up the help when James reached l on a iii-pointer with 1:41 remaining and allow out a practiced-natured, celebratory scream in his former teammate Kuzma'south direction to bask in the moment.
"This is the second fourth dimension he's scored fifty this year, and I was, 'Damn.' I looked up, and I was similar, 'Damn, he's got 50!'" Horton-Tucker said. "When he had 47, I knew he was going to become 50, then that's why I went to effort and get him the 3. So, but seeing that is, similar, it's motivation, similar I always say."
James, who scored nineteen points in the third quarter and 33 total in the 2d half, said his hot shooting reminded him of the 1990s video game NBA Jam, in which players would be "on burn down" after making three shots in a row, making their subsequent shots go in from virtually anywhere on the court.
"I was able to hit a hot streak at one signal," James said. "I merely tried to stay in that zone as long as possible and hit a couple.''
Source: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33483031/lebron-james-scores-50-rally-los-angeles-lakers-wizards-epic-performance
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