LOS ANGELES — LeBron James scored 34 points to lead the Lakers in a comeback victory 116-112 after trailing by 21 points in the fourth quarter in the final matchup where both teams share the same arena.
James made five of his season-high seven 3-pointers in the fourth quarter while adding seven assists and six rebounds.
“It’s just a feeling when you feel like everything you put up is going in,” James said. “I just kept it consistent. I wasn’t taking ill-advised shots. I stayed in the course of the offense. My teammates did a great job of continuing to find me, and I just tried to dictate the tempo, dictate the game. … It’s just a zone. Can’t really describe it. Wish you could stay in it forever.”
Anthony Davis added 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers, while D’Angelo Russell had 18 and Rui Hachimura added 17.
The purple & gold trailed most of the game due to poor defense and a struggling offense. That all changed in the final period.
The Lakers outscored the Clippers 39-16 in the fourth quarter. The Lakers went on a 29-8 run in the finals 7:34 of the game
“A lot of guys locked in defensively and gave us what we needed, but [LeBron’s] a huge reason we won this game, just from him being him. As a group, we fought” Russell said.
This win helped give their divisional foe their first back to back defeats since Dec. 23rd. The Lakers won three of four over the Clippers this season, winning the season series for the first time since 2011-12.
Los Angeles is hopeful this win can give them some momentum going forward. The Lakers play the Wizards tomorrow night at 7:30pm at crypto.com Arena.
