Defense set the tone for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Brooklyn Nets as they held them to just 11 points in the first quarter and jumped out to a big lead. But when things started to fall off for Darvin Ham’s team a little bit, it was LeBron James who ensured this victory was never in question.
LeBron finished with 40 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the field and a ridiculous 9-of-10 from 3-point range. Of the 40, 17 came in the fourth quarter as the Nets had cut the lead down, but LeBron knocked down four 3-pointers in the final period to keep Brooklyn at bay.
Afterwards, Ham heaped a ton of praise on his star, noting that he was thankful for LeBron’s incredible performance and for carrying the Lakers to victory, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It was incredible. I told him in the huddle before his last little stretch and we ultimately subbed him out that I’m just extremely thankful that he packed his cape on the road trip. We needed all nine of those 3s, kind of dropped the rope in terms of what we were doing that established the lead. Came out in the third quarter and turned the ball over way too much, but with that said, you have to just overcome the sting, you don’t have time to complain or moan about the negatives that are happening to you in the moment, you just got to keep fighting, keep scratching and try to figure it out to correct the situation that you’re in and we were able to do that by some huge shotmaking by [LeBron]… Bron caught fire and just carried us home.”
For LeBron to be able to have performances like this in his 21st NBA season is truly unbelievable. 40 points is impressive enough, but the efficient shooting is simply unreal. LeBron is shooting a career-high 41.6% from 3-point range and this would be only the second time in his career that he has eclipsed the 40% mark from deep in a season.
Ham is obviously grateful for LeBron being able to pull these kinds of performances out at times as it has saved the Lakers at different points this season. Defense is the Lakers calling card and it was on display for much of this contest against the Nets. But when things get a little shaky, it’s always nice to have arguably the greatest player of all-time there to put things away for good.
Lakers LeBron James explains how he’s improved 3-point shooting
LeBron James shooting a career-high from 3-point range is not something many would have counted on coming into the season, but the Lakers star has put in the work and is now reaping the benefits.
James recently spoke on this improvement, noting that he has been able to be on the court to work more this season than last. Because of his foot injury last year, he was focused on treatment and just being able to get on the court, but this season he is able to get more on-court work before games.
He also added that he has had to evolve his game as the league has changed and wants teams to respect him from deep.
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