PHILADELPHIA — LeBron James you need to send this message.
He still sits on his throne.
Lakers The superstar scored 10 straight points late in the fourth quarter to seal the victory with a score of 112-108 They beat the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday with 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists, helping the Lakers (17-6) to two wins on a tough three-game road trip.
Philadelphia (13-10) battled back from a 10-point third-quarter deficit to tie the game with 1:28 left. Joel Embiid. James responded with a three-pointer. Quentin Grimes 1:11 left. He nearly iced the game with a 20-foot lead over Grimes in 27.3 seconds.
Running back onto the court, James lowered both hands low, signaling “too weak.” He placed an invisible crown on his head. He absorbed the crowd's roar and punctuated it with his signature jammer celebration.
“It was vintage Bron,” said Luka Doncicscoring 31 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists after missing two games due to the birth of his second child. “We're glad he was there to save us.”
James picked up his 1015th win by passing Robert Parish second highest total in NBA history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds the record with 1,074. The Lakers won in Philadelphia for the first time since Dec. 7, 2017.
Doncic returned to the team on Saturday after flying from Los Angeles to his native Slovenia on Dec. 1. Between a 12-hour flight, a nine-hour time difference and attending the birth of his daughter Olivia, the past week has been a blur for Doncic.
Doncic continued to look easy as he recorded his second triple-double of the season.
But the 26-year-old admitted he was mentally and physically tired by the fourth quarter. Austin Reevesaveraging 40 points in the games Doncic missed, misfired his first eight shots and finished with 11 points.
Lakers star LeBron James dunks in front of Philadelphia's Joel Embiid (left) during the first half Sunday.
(Chris Sagola/Associated Press)
Selecting James as the third scoring option demonstrates the Lakers' embarrassment of riches.
“His performance throughout the game was very encouraging for us.” coach JJ Redick said, noting James' testing and ability to create advantages. “…LeBron was our glue tonight.”
Trailing by 10 points with less than a minute left in the second quarter, the Lakers started the third on a 9-3 run to cut the deficit to one before taking a 10-point lead with 1:40 left in the quarter. Then James' heroism helped them hold on.
Deandre Ayton scored 14 points on 7-of-7 shooting and 12 rebounds. Rui Hachimura scored 17 points as all five starters finished in double figures to hold off a fourth-quarter attack from the 76ers, who led with 28 points, nine assists and seven rebounds from the star guard. Tyrese Maxey.
“The great thing about our team,” Reeves said, “is that it’s not even just the three of us.”
Doncic and Reaves are off to the best starts of their careers and the Lakers are 11-5 without James, who missed the first 14 games with sciatica. The NBA's leading scorer has never missed the start of a season in his entire life, James emphasized. Missing training camps, preseason games and practices took a toll on James not only physically, but also mentally. James had to remind himself to “fall in love with the process” to rediscover his rhythm.
His confidence was paid off Sunday when he scored 12 of the Lakers' 25 points in the fourth quarter.
“It’s important to be reminded every now and then of what you’re capable of,” Redick said. “For him to get injured and then start the season playing catch-up and start the season playing catch-up with a team that is also in a really good rhythm and that, as a player, I don’t care how good you are, it’s hard to understand.”
Three weeks before his 41st birthday, James missed the previous game in Boston with sciatica and arthritic joint in his left foot. Although he made the winning pass Spectacular Lakers win in Torontohe also lost his streak of 1,297 games scoring 10 or more points. It felt like he was finally starting to show signs of his age.
He then unleashed his signature one-handed tomahawk dunk in transition in the first quarter against the 76ers. It was a not-so-gentle reminder that James is not about to quietly approach the end of his career.
“I mean, at 40, it takes a while for my body to get back into rhythm,” James said. “And so tonight it was nice to feel a little bit more like myself, to be able to run and jump and cut and catch my second wind a lot quicker tonight. Hopefully it stays that way.”
Every goal James scored left Philadelphia fans clamoring for more. Even tour fans are hoping James will stay longer, too.
