On Saturday night, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder by a score of 129-120, including a season-high 40 points scored by LeBron James. This victory brought an end to a losing run of four games.
In addition to making all nine of his free throws, James, who is 38 years old, shot 13 of 20 from the field, including five three-pointers without missing a single one of them. Additionally, he had seven rebounds, seven assists, and two blocks in his game.
The disadvantage that Oklahoma City had been facing, which was 26 points with 3 minutes and 32 seconds remaining in the third quarter, was reduced to eight points by the middle of the fourth quarter. James then grabbed control of the game, scoring 11 points in the last 4 minutes and 29 seconds to assist the Lakers in maintaining their lead.
"It is always a good feeling for sure to know that I can go out and still make game-winning plays, that I can affect the game in multiple ways, and that I can still close out a game in the fourth quarter when our team needed it when they started making a run," James said.
Anthony Davis, who had stated that this was a game that the Lakers really needed to win, contributed 26 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists for the team. Austin Reaves contributed 11 points and nine assists for Los Angeles, who had a record of 1-5 since winning the In-Season Tournament. Rui Hachimura scored 21 points for the team, while Austin Reaves also contributed 11 points.
In addition to shooting 52.2%, the Lakers recorded a season-high 37 assists while only committing nine turnovers.
"Everyone was making shots, and everybody was passing the ball," James stated that was the situation. While we were attempting to keep it on time and on aim, we also made sure not to turn over the ball. That was the very secret to it."