Wednesday night’s win over the Indiana Pacers was an interesting game for LeBron James. He had 10 points, including the buzzer-beating game-winner, in the fourth quarter alone. He provided huge plays when the Los Angeles Lakers needed them offensively. But he did’t make his first field goal until the fourth quarter started.
He had just three points on zero field goals made entering the final quarter, making it one of the first real time his 10-point scoring streak was in jeopardy. But when the game was said and done, James was still a hugely impactful player for L.A.
He had 13 rebounds and seven assists and was a plus-five in a game where three starters — Luka Doncic, Jaxson Hayes and Rui Hachimura — finished in the minus for the night. But that’s exactly the type of player LeBron wants to be, he discussed after the huge win.
“Yeah, whatever it takes to help your teammates win. For me, I can always do other things to still impact the game, even when I’m not scoring. That’s the beauty of my game, I’ve always built that through my whole life as far as being three dimensional. Being able to get my guys involved, being able to rebound, defend and then sprinkle in a few points here and there.”
James’ most obvious impact was on the final play of the game, when he got the offensive rebound and tip-in off of the Doncic miss to win the game at the buzzer. He broke down his perspective on that final play and what he was trying to do.
“Once I hit Luka and he got the driving angle, I was just trying to read the ball off the rim. It kind of looked like it was a little short but I knew it had a chance if it hit the front rim and maybe bounced it. But once it came out of there, I just wanted to try to tap it with enough time. Obviously you can see me probably looking over at the jumbotron just to see if the replay was coming to see if I actually got it on time and it was a good play for us.”
LeBron knows that, when he’s called upon, he can be a scorer. But he recognizes that there are other facets of his game that are more important with Doncic, and even Austin Reaves, on the floor with him.
“That’s what’s needed for our team. The way the dynamic kind of works right now, that is needed. Obviously I know I can score the ball, but until we continue to find our rhythm offensively or whatever the case may be, the defensive side is more important for our ballclub. In order for us to win, we gotta defend. It starts with me, it starts with my voice. And if we go small, I’ve gotta clean the glass and keep guys in front of me and be an anchor on the defensive end. So that’s what it calls for at this moment.”
The Lakers star was too focused on whether or not his shot counted to really celebrate the game-winner, but spoke about his feelings once it was confirmed and the Lakers got the victory.
“I really couldn’t have too much emotion because I was trying to see if I got the ball off, to be honest. It’s always tricky when you kind of touch the ball and kind of see the red light around the backboard and you don’t quite know if you got it off in time. I thought I had on time but you never know sometimes. It’s always that split second and seeing the ball on the tip of your fingers, but it was definitely gratifying (to see if count). Especially with the way we’ve been playing and how they’ve been playing, to come in here and get a good win in a very hostile environment. That’s big-time for our ballclub.”
The Lakers desperately needed a win on Wednesday night. It was hugely beneficial to stay afloat in the race at the top of the Western Conference, allowed the Lakers to avoid a four-game skid and came on the first night of a back-to-back with a Chicago Bulls team that just ran them off the floor looming.
