LeBron James – Dominating the Basketball Court at Age 39: Leading Los Angeles Lakers to a Dramatic Comeback Win Over LA Clippers in the Final Quarter
While many of his contemporaries have retired to enjoy their golden years, LeBron James, the American professional basketball player, continues to battle fiercely for his passion, striving to etch his name into the glorious pages of basketball history. If you were present at the Crypto.com Arena on February 29th, where the Los Angeles Lakers were trailing by 21 points in the fourth quarter but still managed to secure a 116-112 victory against the LA Clippers, you couldn’t help but be amazed and shout out for the fighting spirit of this athlete.
The comeback of the Los Angeles Lakers started after Mason Plumlee’s scoring play at the beginning of the fourth quarter, putting the LA Clippers ahead 98-77. This seemed to strike a chord with LeBron James – “You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice” – LeBron James immediately “turned on” with 3 three-pointers in 2 minutes, contributing to a 14-2 run that narrowed the score to 91-100. There were moments of confusion from the LA Clippers – they seemed to disbelief their own eyes. Their disarray helped the Lakers continue to close the gap to just 5 points. LeBron himself scored 5 points and assisted on another three-pointer for D’Angelo Russell.
A prompt team meeting was called by the Clippers, necessitating another huddle with 6 minutes and 53 seconds left on the clock (score 99-104). Perhaps this meeting was effective as they changed their strategy. Kawhi Leonard scored 2 points to bring back confidence to the team, but the Lakers were too strong, far beyond what the Clippers had imagined. “The King” added another 5-point streak then assisted D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura to sink two more three-pointers, putting the Los Angeles Lakers in the lead again over the LA Clippers 114-108. The LA Clippers players seemed to sense impending doom, with Leonard attempting and failing to score twice, possibly feeling the spirit and morale being overpowered by the Lakers.
Numerous scenarios were laid out for the LA Clippers, in a position close to victory but ultimately they found themselves in a deadlock, leading to an incredibly dramatic turnaround by the Los Angeles Lakers. Without wasting too much time from the fans, LeBron locked down Kawhi Leonard in the decisive play, sealing an emotionally charged comeback victory for the Los Angeles Lakers. Throughout the game, LeBron James scored 34 points along with 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and added 2 blocks in 37 minutes of play. Specifically, in the fourth quarter, LeBron James (19 PTS, 5-8 3PT) scored more points than the entire LA Clippers team combined (16 PTS). This statistic doesn’t even account for James’s 4 assists, which brought in an additional 11 points including three three-pointers from Russell and Hachimura.
Following him was Anthony Davis with 20 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. Rui Hachimura scored 17 points (8-15 FG). Austin Reaves and D’Angelo Russell contributed respectively 13 and 18 points. Remarkably, in his 20-year NBA career, “The King” had faced a 21-point deficit in the fourth quarter 136 times and had never won until now. This time James changed the script and dramatically turned the tide. He had worked hard to achieve something he had never done in 20 years. A person can persevere in correcting mistakes for 20 years, so we should also be more persistent with the ‘failures’ in our lives.
For the LA Clippers, unfortunately, Paul George and Ivica Zubac could not participate in this game. James Harden started off hot with 23 points and 9 assists but might have felt the fatigue towards the end, possibly due to overconfidence, a significant lesson for him. Kawhi Leonard had 26 points (11-19 FG) along with 7 rebounds, 6 assists, including several difficult shots in the last quarter. Sadly, one swallow does not make a summer, but nevertheless, he tried his best.
