LeBron leads, the Lakers follow  

The Los Angeles Lakers rise and fall with LeBron James. Although it helps for James to have a pretty good sidekick next to him in forward Anthony Davis. 

After scoring 34 points in a 116-112 comeback win against the Los Angeles Clippers, James dropped 31 on the Washington Wizards the following for the Los Angeles Lakers in a 134-131 overtime victory. 

James played at a ho-hum level for three quarters against the Clippers before exploding for 19 points in the final quarter as the Lakers outscored their city counterparts, 39-16, to finish off a 21-point comeback against the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference. 

In the second of back-to-back games, James had to draw from well again as he scored 12 points total in the fourth and overtime periods to help the Lakers secure their second straight home win. The Lakers have been on a bit of a roll lately, winning seven of their last 10 games. 

However, James and the Lakers still sit at the No. 9 slot in the Western Conference. And now they’re going into the teeth of their schedule with dates against the Denver Nuggets, OKC Thunder, Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, the Kings again, and then the Golden State Warriors. 

The Lakers are going to need James to do what he did against the Clippers and Wizards, and that’s to be that all-encompassing presence on both sides of the ball if the Lakers have hopes of improving where they are currently seeded in the Western Conference. 

If James can duplicate what he did against the Clippers in that fourth quarter…that just might not be a bad idea. The Lakers were a plus 23 with James playing all 12 minutes in the period. James made 7 of his 12 field goal attempts in the quarter, including connecting on five of his eight 3-pointers in the final period. 

“Just in the zone,” James said after the game. “I know we kind of heard of what it feels like to be in the zone in our sport and that’s just a feeling. You feel like everything that you put up is going in and 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 give myself some space and get a couple more looks.”

Davis, who scored 40 points in the team’s overtime win against the Wizards, said clamping down defensively in that fourth quarter against the Clippers was vital to the Lakers coming up victorious.     

“We got stops,” Davis said. “Obviously [LeBron James] went into his little sicko mode and ran off 40 straight, but we just had to get stops to get the win.”

As the Lakers prepare for a very long month in March with a heavyweight schedule, just how tough it is to play and win in the NBA. The Wizards, a team that has the worst record in the league, and only nine victories on the season thus far, exemplifies this, he said.  

“We had to get to get stops and we had to execute, make some shots, obviously not turn the ball over,” James said. “It is a tough league. After last night’s victory, and then coming versus a young, scrappy team that is, you know, pretty much not playing for much, just out there and playing hard… a lot of speed, a lot of youth. Obviously, it took us 53 minutes to get the job done. We give them credit, though. They played well.”   

Top Image Caption: Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) scored 31 points against the Washington Wizards on Feb. 29, 2024. Photo by Mark Hammond/Courtesy of The Bulletin.