Every so often, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James will remind the basketball world that he still belongs in the conversation for best player in the world.
Against the Golden State Warriors, James made an emphatic statement when he scored a season-high 56 points to lead the Lakers to a much-needed win. The Lakers were on a four-game losing streak and James made sure that it would not extend to five as he simply dominated the Warriors from start to finish.
James surpassed his previous Laker high in points, and while his performance was electric, he noted he was just grateful that they got the victory.
“Our guys were following me off the floor tonight going into the locker room and asking me how it felt to score 56. I said, ‘right now I don’t give a damn about the 56 I’m just happy we got a win.’ That’s just literally the first thing that came to my mind,” James said.
“We needed pretty much all of them, going against a team that’s so explosive offensively. At any moment, just like that second quarter, they put 40 up in the second quarter. Felt pretty good with my game tonight, every part of the floor. I was able to make a couple plays to help us win.”
At this point in the season, James is going to need to do all the heavy lifting to keep them in the Play-In Tournament and it sounds like he already knows that is the mindset he needs to have.
“I’ve played in a lot of games, and I’ve logged a lot of minutes in my 19-year career, and then on the contrary, I’ve been able to sustain my level of play. Continue to try to break any narration of a guy at this age, and this number of seasons on his productivity, just trying to go out there, continue to make plays. Like I said at the last game, guys ask me if I can really see if I can do more, always trying to put that pressure on me, and see ways I can do more for this ball club and try to figure out ways for us to get wins.”
It was far and away James’ best game of the year and it came at the right time considering how many games are left in the 2021-22 season. Wins have been scarce the past couple of months, so to get one over a playoff team in the Warriors should boost morale and hopefully keep the team motivated to finish the year strong.
For James, he looks primed to continue the scoring tear he is own though it is a little concerning he needed to score 56 to pull out a relatively narrow victory. That level of scoring is unsustainable, so others will need to step up if they hope to make the run fans have been yearning for.
LeBron James has no plans to shut down season
With the Lakers struggling to hold on to their Play-In spot, it might seem like the smart long-term move would be to sit James the rest of the way. However, no matter how things turn out James is reportedly committed to playing the season out.
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