LOS ANGELES — “It’s becoming regular, right?” D’Angelo Russell asked, reflecting on LeBron James’ latest defeat-defying feat on Wednesday night, when the Lakers rallied from 21 points down in the fourth quarter to beat the Clippers, 116-112.
“How can you be surprised with some of the things he does?” Russell asked again, numb, apparently, to a 39-year-old teammate outscoring the opposition 19-16 by himself in the fourth quarter of a rivalry game.
“It’s just him being him,” said Austin Reaves, who surely meant: Him being Him.
I’m not saying the Lakers are taking James’ greatness – hard-earned, he reminded everyone postgame Wednesday: “I wanted to be great, and you can’t be great if you don’t punch your clock in” – for granted.
But I’m saying they better not.
With the game on the line, and the season perilously in the balance every time out for the 32-28 Lakers the rest of the way, James went superhero on Wednesday. “Sicko mode,” Anthony Davis called it. Vintage LeBron, somehow not surprising and plenty astonishing at the same time.
James rained in five 3-pointers in the final period. Shot 5 for 7 overall in those final 12 minutes – on the floor for the duration, his breathers coming when Clippers coach Tyronn Lue called timeout to try to stem the bleeding.
James controlled the game, a maestro manipulating the action, getting the defender he wanted on him over and over again. And then, when the inevitable double-teams came, he punished them, finishing with four fourth-quarter assists. “Picked ’em apart with the pass,” said Lakers coach Darvin Ham, like Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers – easier done than said for only the most talented among us.
On top of all that, James guarded Kawhi Leonard, effectively putting his substantial 6-foot-9, 250-pound body between the Clippers’ Big Fun(guy)demental and the basket, mucking up his process.
“He had the cape tucked under his seat on the bench, I guess,” Ham said of James’ late-game superheroics. “… and he put the cape on and got aggressive and got in a good rhythm.”
And reminded us all that as long as he’s on the court, the Lakers have a chance.
Down 21 with 11:45 left in a game? It ain’t over.
Stuck way down as the 10th seed with 23 games to go? Ain’t over.
And the Lakers know it’s not, because last season they went 17-7 down the stretch to scale the Western Conference standings, climbing from the 13th seed to the seventh … and from there, to the Western Conference finals. “Get in and once you get in,” Reaves said, “anything can happen.”
Already, the Lakers got help Wednesday: The sixth-seeded New Orleans Pelicans lost to the Indiana Pacers, 123-114, and the eighth-seeded Sacramento Kings were beaten by the Denver Nuggets, 117-96.
Both of those teams gave up valuable ground to a Lakers team that seems to show up most convincingly when its proverbial back is pinned against the wall – and would go into Thursday night’s game against the Washington Wizards as the ninth seed.
A Lakers team that can beat anyone on any given night (or series of nights, in the playoffs) because they have LeBron and no one else does. LeBron and Anthony Davis.
“We’re not in a position that we want to be in, to be honest,” Reaves said. “With however many games are left, you can’t take any for granted, and that’s the same position we were in last year. So, yeah, you can look back to what we’re doing to be successful, just the mental outlook toward every game, having to be locked in for 49 minutes, every single game, kind of just treat it as playoff mode right now.”
And that’s why it would have made sense for the Lakers to do something at the trade deadline rather than holding off to better position themselves to bait a big fish in the offseason.
In the anything-can-happen world of James’ postseason jaunts, it would have made sense to give him and Davis another tool to play with. A defender-who-can-shoot type, like Royce O’Neale, if not Royce O’Neale himself. You know, the guy who was traded from the Brooklyn Nets to the Phoenix Suns for a trio of second-round picks? The guy who burned the Lakers with six 3-pointers in the Suns’ 123-113 victory on Sunday?
Because with James, there’s always a chance. And even a moderately better chance to seize an opportunity would have been better.
And you should never take those opportunities for granted, whether your superstar is 25 and especially if he is 39.
Say this, though: These Lakers didn’t squander their opportunity Wednesday, like they didn’t waste it down the homestretch last season, either. Now let’s see how opportunistic they prove to be in these next few weeks.
“A lot of guys locked in defensively and gave us what we needed,” Russell said. “But (James) is a huge reason we won this game, just from him taking over a game that seemed a little out of reach.”
He is, of course, Russell said, “one of the best players ever.” A regular G.O.A.T.
With 11:45 left in the 4Q, the Lakers trailed 98-77.
Then LeBron TOOK OVER, scoring 19 in the quarter, including 5 triples, to lead the Lakers all the way back
Watch the takeover and the final minutes of the Lakers’ comeback W pic.twitter.com/rFS7WKroZZ
— NBA (@NBA) February 29, 2024