LeBron James may not be as good as he once was, but he’s still capable of turning it up when it’s needed.
On Friday, it was, in fact, needed with the Lakers going to the wire against the Grizzlies. LeBron turned back the clock in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 points in the fourth with a pair of his four field goals coming in the closing two minutes. He also dished out three assists with two of those also coming in the final two minutes as well.
It was a vintage LeBron performance and one that drew
the praise of his head coach postgame.
“He was phenomenal,” Redick said. “I mean, there was just a few stretches there where they made runs and the response from him, it felt like nearly every time we needed a bucket, he just kind of willed [us to one]. Whether it was driving the basketball, getting into the paint, getting to two feet, he just was phenomenal tonight.”
While this was definitely a throwback performance from LeBron, there have also been increasing signs that he’s rounding into form. After having to shut down during the offseason and miss not just the opening weeks of the season, but the entire preseason, LeBron’s been slowly coming along.
It couldn’t come at a better time for the Lakers, either. With Austin Reaves out for the foreseeable future, the team is going to need LeBron to step up. With Luka at the helm, it’s not going to require quite as much heavy lifting as it has in the past and even as recently as last season.
But if he can show more of those flashes as he did on Friday, then the Lakers could be in a good place moving forward.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
