LOS ANGELES — In year 21 of his illustrious career, LeBron James did something that he’s never accomplished: leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a 21-point comeback victory. It was the largest 4th-quarter comeback win by a LeBron-led team in his career, as they defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 116-112 in dramatic fashion.
The win marked the Lakers’ third victory in four games over the Clippers this season, capturing the season series for the purple and gold over their crosstown rivals, despite the Clippers’ having the more successful regular season to date. It was also the first time in 20 years that the Lakers have come back from a 20-plus point deficit in the 4th quarter.
During the 4th quarter, James singlehandedly outscored the whole Clippers roster by 19 to 16 and contributed five of his season-high seven threes during the quarter. He scored or assisted on 11 of the Lakers’ final 13 baskets and finished with 34 points on 13-19 shooting for the night, pretty ridiculous for the oldest player in the NBA.
All of the Lakers’ starters eclipsed double digit points, with Anthony Davis being the second-highest contributor at 20 points. D’Angelo Russell had 18 points while Rui Hachimura dropped 17 and Austin Reaves finished with 13. Every Lakers starter finished the game shooting above 50% from the field.
That being said, the Lakers bench didn’t offer much on the night. Their reserves combined for a feeble 14 points. Cam Reddish played his first game since returning from an ankle injury that kept him out for 14 games and scored just 5 points in 20 minutes.
Anthony Davis dominated the paint early on by scoring 12 points, but had to be taken out due to foul trouble. After that, Kawhi Leonard and James Harden fueled a massive Clippers’ run, stepping up in Paul George’s absence because of a sore left knee. The Clippers had control for the entirety of the first half, as they had a comfortable 14-point lead at halftime.
The third quarter featured more of the same. The Lakers had a tough time stopping the Clippers from scoring and besides the starters, the Lakers couldn’t find a basket from anybody else.
The script flipped for the Lakers in that last period as LeBron was on a mission to shrink the Clippers’ lead. James took most of the defensive responsibilities on Leonard during the period and shut him down, including clamping him on the Clippers’ last shot of the game.
This matchup was the final crosstown rivalry game in which the Clippers were the home team in the Crypto.com Arena, as they’ll head down the 110 freeway to Inglewood and play in the brand new Intuit Dome Arena next season, closing a chapter in the Hallway Series between the two teams.
The Lakers remain in the ninth seed in the Western Conference, five and a half games back of the fourth-seed Clippers. The Lakers will now face a team on the opposite side of the standings of the Eastern Conference in the Washington Wizards at home on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7:30 p.m.