Before the game against the Warriors, the Lakers were in very bad shape, having suffered four consecutive losses, and they encountered great doubts when there were not many games left in the regular season. However, although their opponents are still in second place in the West, their opponents have also been in very bad form in their last few games, winning only one of their last six games. So it's very important for both sides, and both teams are keen to end the losing streak with this game.
In the first quarter of the game, the Lakers played an 11-0 lead under the leadership of Munch and Westbrook, but the Warriors also always clung to the point difference, and at the end of the first quarter, the Lakers led 32:25. In the second quarter, the Warriors played an offensive climax and surpassed the Lakers by 5 points at the end of the half. In the third quarter, the two sides began a tug-of-war, the point difference was always hovering around 7 points, and at the end of the quarter, the Warriors still led by 5 points. In the final quarter, the Lakers successfully completed the counterattack in the first half, and although the Lakers kept making mistakes at key moments, the Warriors did not seize the opportunity and finally lost 116:124.
In this game, the reason why the Lakers were able to finally complete the reversal and win the game after falling behind in the last quarter was that the biggest contributor was James. James went crazy, shooting 19-of-31 from the field, including 6-of-11 three-pointers, 12 free throws, a 56-point high, 10 rebounds and 3 assists, and eventually led the team to win the game. It can be said that James in this campaign can be said to have played a classic battle of his entire career.
In the first quarter of this game, James's offensive desire is very strong, 7 of the 9 shots are from the impact of the inside line to the basket, and hit 5 of them, the first quarter of the game has cut 13 points and 4 rebounds, and helped the team to take a 7-point lead. In the second quarter, James still has a strong desire to attack, and the offensive efficiency has improved, shooting 5 of 6 in a single quarter, and also hit 1 three-pointer, scoring 13 points again in the single quarter, and has scored 26 points at halftime.
The performance in the first half was just the beginning of James's crazy performance, starting in the third quarter, James began to try more outside long-range attacks, and hit 2 three-pointers in this quarter to score 14 points in a single quarter, but the team was still behind at the end of the quarter. In the final quarter, James, who was not willing to lose five consecutive games, once again exerted his strength, and the single quarter offensive efficiency was super high, shooting 5 of 7 from 5 of 3 three-pointers, cutting 16 points, and offering an empty dunk and a key assist at a critical moment, helping the team finally win the victory and avoid a five-game losing streak.
After scoring 56 points in a frenzy in this game, the 37-year-old James also achieved a series of achievements. First of all, according to statistics, after this game, James became the oldest player in NBA history to get 50 points and 10 rebounds in a single game, surpassing Jordan, the record holder of this game. Second, James became the first player in NBA history to score 50 points in a single game at both the age of 21 and the age of 35. Again, the 56 points not only allowed James to tie Trae Young and tie for the highest single-game scoring player of the season, but it was also the third-highest single-game scoring record in James' career. In the end, James also became the first Lakers player after O'Neal to have 55 points and 10 rebounds in a single game.
In fact, although James played a battle of the gods in this battle, the Lakers' final win in this game has gone through twists and turns. On the one hand, at the end of the first three quarters of this campaign, the Lakers were still 5 points behind their opponents, and it was not until the last quarter that they successfully completed the rebound. On the other hand, in the last 2 minutes of the quarter, the Lakers were actually on the verge of losing. Except for Anthony, there are not many people around James who can stand up and help him share the responsibility.
In the last 2 minutes or so, James's physical strength gradually declined, and the Lakers began to have Westbrook carry out the main possession, but he did not do his due responsibility. Although he got 20 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists in this game, he had a series of extremely low-level mistakes in the last minute, resulting in the team not only failing to score, but also easily letting the Warriors get more opportunities, fortunately, the opponent did not take advantage of these opportunities. In addition, with 45 seconds left, Westbrook's shot once again threw an inextricable scrub ball.
So James must once again step up to save the team and must continue to challenge his own exhausted physical strength. Around the last 2 minutes, after Munch completed the steal, James was the first to rush to the front and completed a stunning four-seat air-to-air dunk with his teammates, stretching the point difference to 5 points. In the round when Westbrook missed shooting, the Lakers grabbed an offensive rebound, and James organized the offense again, assisting Anthony in the bottom corner after breaking through the attraction defense to hit the deadly three-pointer that killed the game. In the final moments, James also hit the free throw steadily, making the game completely lose suspense.
It is worth mentioning that James cut the highest score of the season with 56 points in this campaign, which is also a response to external doubters to some extent. On one show, James reportedly said he didn't mention him when the outside world discussed the best scorer of all time, which made him feel angry. Soon, James scored 56 points in the game, perfectly proving his scoring ability with action. In fact, for an extremely versatile superstar like James, it's easy to overlook his top scoring ability. Although he is team-oriented a lot of the time, as long as he wants, he can cut high scores like many stars.
For the Lakers, although they have ended their losing streak through the victory of this game, their situation is still very unoptimistic. After all, with little left in the regular season, they are still five wins away from entering the top eight in the West, and their form is still not too ideal. Therefore, the Lakers' playoffs this season are already inevitable, and James will undoubtedly have to pay more for this.