LeBron James recorded his 152nd career triple-double tonight in the Lakers’ 134-126 win over the Heat. He finished the game with 19 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists while shooting 8-12 from the field (67.0 FG%) on a historic night that tied him with Robert Parish for the most NBA games played in all time (1611).
After the game, the 41-year-old superstar addressed the media in the locker room scrum and spoke about the narrative that the Lakers play better without him.
“I think for us, it’s always been about time. Haven’t really had a lot of time to put in the work on the floor,” said James when asked about what the key factor behind the Lakers’ recent successes was.
“Obviously, we had a little bit of last year, but Luka was just getting to the team. Trying to get comfortable with what we wanted to do, we were all getting comfortable with what the three of us wanted to do.”
“I started the year not in the lineup. AR had a moment where he was out, so we were just trying to figure it out. Then I was out a couple of weeks ago and came back to see how I can best fit those guys because they were playing so dynamically off of one another,” James further added on finding his own fit in the Lakers’ system.
“It sells papers a lot easier, the clippings and the podcasts saying ‘LeBron, the team is better off without him’ because a lot of people would try to view it, so I get it. But they’re absolutely wrong,” said James as he shut down the media noise.
Luka Doncic dropped a 60-point masterclass to go with James’ triple-double and became the first Lakers player to drop 60 since Kobe Bryant’s final game in the purple and gold jersey.
James also spoke about Doncic’s performance and emphasized how clutch Doncic has been for the Lakers recently.
“You’ve seen how we all reacted on the floor, we were super happy that he was able to get that last free throw to give him a 60-piece. But it was all just in a flow; it wasn’t like he was trying to force his way to get it.”
“Everybody came into a flow when he got hot in third, and he had a red hand, and he just kept it going and made some big-time plays for us,” concluded James on Doncic.
The Slovenian superstar finished the game with 60 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and five steals to secure a career-high in points for the Lakers. He shot 18-30 from the floor (60.0 FG%) and 9-17 from beyond the three-point line (52.9 3P%).
LeBron James and the Lakers have successfully managed to shut down media narratives that suggested the franchise played better without the 41-year-old superstar. Earlier, even his agent, Rich Paul, had voiced his concerns against such public opinion and defended his client.
The Lakers have now improved to 45-25 for the season and are third in the West, two games ahead of the Timberwolves (43-27). They are now headed to Orlando to face the Magic on Saturday, March 21.
The team in purple and gold is six games outside the play-in tournament risk and has the tiebreakers over all the teams (the Timberwolves, the Rockets, and the Nuggets) that are placed between them and the Suns (who are in the seventh seed).
While it is nearly confirmed that the Lakers will be clear of the play-in tournament (unless some miracle drops them down to the seventh seed), it will be interesting to see what the Western Conference’s playoff bracket looks like.
