The Los Angeles Lakers came away with a 129-120 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night and after the contest, LeBron James stated this was a must-win game for them.
“This was one of the first must-win games of the season for us,” James said. “We understand how well this team has been playing but we were able to play a really good game on the road to close the road trip out.”
When asked what it was like to score more points than his age for the first time this season, James stated desperate times call for desperate measures.
“That’s pretty good,” James stated. “In the sense that it helped us get this win versus a very good team in the Western Conference that we really needed. We were desperate for a win tonight, so desperate times calls for desperate measures.”
LeBron James speaks on the importance of winning tonight and the difference with the new starting lineup. pic.twitter.com/5ztox79lrf
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) December 24, 2023
James is 38 years old now and finished the night with 40 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. It is also interesting that he claimed this was a must-win for the Lakers this early on in the season.
They did come into the game on the back of four straight defeats, so there was a bit more at stake here. The Thunder had also blown out the Lakers 133-110 in their last meeting in November, so they got a little bit of revenge as well. With the win, the Lakers also improved to 16-14 on the season and they’re now 6-11 on the road.
LeBron James Does Not Give A Damn About The Christmas Day Clash With The Celtics
Up next for the Lakers is the clash with their eternal rivals, the Boston Celtics, on December 25. While fans are eagerly looking forward to it, LeBron says he doesn’t give a damn about facing the Celtics on Christmas Day.
What he does care about is his daughter, Zhuri, waking up and opening her presents on Monday. It has always been family first for LeBron and it will be no different on this occasion.
That obviously doesn’t mean the 19-time All-Star will take it easy against the Celtics. I expect an excellent performance on his part and James would be keen to get a win, especially after losing to Boston twice in overtime last season.
The Lakers Rolled Out A New Starting Lineup Here
The Lakers will also head into that clash with their new-look starting five. After suffering those four defeats in a row, Darvin Ham brought out a new starting lineup against the Thunder, with D’Angelo Russell heading to the bench.
While sending Russell to the bench was a popular move, not everyone was a fan of the new lineup, which had James, Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Anthony Davis. The spacing seemed like an obvious issue considering there is no one who is even close to being a lockdown shooter among those five.
Inserting Austin Reaves into the lineup for Russell seemed like the way to go, but Ham seemingly wants him to be that spark off the bench. They got the win here against OKC, which is what matters, but it’ll be interesting to see how well this starting five functions against the Celtics, who are one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.
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