LeBron James put on a show for the ages on Wednesday night as he led the Los Angeles Lakers to a jaw-dropping 21-point comeback win against their cross-town rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers. The Lakers looked down and out in this one heading into the fourth and final frame down 96-77 as they faced the prospect of losing for a third time in four games.
Enter LeBron James.211111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111222222221
Los Angeles Lakers Star LeBron James Reacts to Stunning Performance Vs. Clippers
To say that LeBron got it going in the fourth quarter would be a massive understatement. The 39-year-old finished the game with a game-high 34 points on 13-of-21 shooting, to go along with six rebounds, eight assists, two blocks, and seven triples. 19 of his points came in the final 12 minutes of the game, which included five triples in the Lakers’ blistering fourth-quarter comeback.
After another mind-blowing performance, LeBron spoke to the media to try and put into words what had just gone down. As it turns out, even the 20-time All-Star himself couldn’t really describe what got into him during his wild stretch:
“I was just in the zone,” James said, via Matthew Valento of Lakers Nation. “I know we’ve kind of heard what it feels like to be in the zone in our sport and it’s just a feeling where you feel like everything you put up is going in. For me, I just kept it consistent. I wasn’t taking ill-advised shots. I stayed in the course of the offense.
“When I was able to get the switches, I was able to get myself some space and get a couple more looks, so my teammates did a great job of continuing to find me. And then I just tried to dictate the tempo and dictate the game as we started making a run to get the game closer and closer and closer. It’s just a zone, and you can’t really describe it. You wish you could stay in it forever, but obviously it checks out once the game ends. But during it, you don’t feel anything. It’s just like a superpower, I feel.”
LeBron absolutely looked like a superhero in certain stretches of Wednesday’s victory.
At the end of the day, however, the most important thing here is that the Lakers came home with a W. LeBron sounded off on his team’s ability to bounce back from adversity, which is something they will need to lean on in the coming months.
“I mean, it’s a good test because anytime you get to verse a great ballclub it could work well for you and obviously tonight was a great test,” he said.
“If we’re ever put in that position again, we know how to handle it or how to go for it. Obviously you never want to be down 21 in the fourth or 19 to start the fourth, that’s not ever the cost of a game, but if it happens, we know we can buckle down and get stops and make shots if we just play the game the right way. So I think it was a good test for us but another good test for us tomorrow. We got to see how we handle the success of tonight by coming in tomorrow and being mentally prepared as well.”
The Lakers will need to do it all over again on Friday night on the second game of a back-to-back set against the Washington Wizards.
For More NBA Content:
Follow me on Twitter at @PaoloSongcoNBA, and follow us @HardwoodHeroics. You can also reach out to Paolo Songco via email at [email protected]. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest NBA news, click here!
