Game 4 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies was an absolute battle as both teams fought hard throughout the night.
It’s been a physical series, but Game 4 was more intense given what was at stake for the Lakers and Grizzlies. However, Los Angeles was able to prevail in overtime thanks to some late-game heroics from LeBron James.
Down two in regulation, James was able to get all the way to the cup and finish over Jaren Jackson Jr. to force overtime. Then in the extra period, James earned an and-one opportunity that sealed the game and gave the Lakers a massive 3-1 series lead.
While the crunch time scoring will draw all the attention, the King was even more impressive on the glass as he pulled down a career-high 20 rebounds. James understands how well the Grizzlies rebound, so he made it a point of emphasis to check them on the glass.
“I don’t know where I found the legs, honestly. But understanding how great of a rebounding team they are,” James said. “It’s very important that we try to try to clean the glass when they miss. And we stillgave up 16 offensive rebounds for 24 second-chance points. So we still got to do a better job of that, but just trying to do my part.”
With his 22 points to go with his 20 rebounds, James recorded his first 20-20 game in his career. It takes a lot for LeBron to be impressed with his own performance, but this was one of them.
“Yep. When? When my teammates told me I had 20 and 20, I had no idea that I had 20 and 20. The first time I’ve done it in my career. I’ve done some pretty good, cool things in my career. I’ve never had 20 and 20 before. So that’s pretty cool, I guess.”
James has certainly done numerous incredible things throughout his career, most notably becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer earlier this season. However, it shouldn’t be lost on fans what he’s still able to accomplish at 38 years old.
The superstar has battled through injuries this year and is currently dealing with a foot injury that may require offseason surgery, so to see a performance like this is nothing short of amazing. Thanks to James, the Lakers are now just one win away from advancing to the Western Conference semi-finals but will need to claw and scratch their way to another victory knowing who their opponents are.
James felt three-point play on Brooks in overtime was ‘dagger’
James hit a number of big shots, with one coming in overtime when he drove on Dillon Brooks and earned a three-point play in the final minute to put his team up five.
After scoring, LeBron let out a big yell and celebrated with the home fans. James described how he felt in that momentum and why he let out so much emotion.
“You know how momentum plays are made, and you’ve been have been a part of moments where you know that you kind of get like a kind of dagger play or kill shot. I feel like that play right there when I was able to make that and-one kind of I won’t say close the door, but it sealed it a little bit. There wasn’t much light and then for that particular for the rest of the game. So just letting the emotion come out and the fans was, once again, top-notch tonight for a second consecutive game.”
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