LeBron James would only provide a vague indication as to how long he plans to remain an NBA player.
James declared after having one of the greatest shooting outings of his legendary career—going 9 for 10 from outside the arc to tie his career high for 3-pointers—that he would not play for another 21 years. “I don’t know when that door will close, but I’m running out of time.”
Playing in his 1,485th career game and matching a career-high 40 points, James looked like an immortal wonder once more as he led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 116-104 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night.
In the fourth quarter, James completed his 3-point shooting exhibition, leaving the sold-out Barclays Center audience standing. For the third time this season, he scored forty points, most recently on March 16 during a home defeat to Golden State.
With seven games left in the regular season, the Lakers are nine games over.500 for the first time this season after winning five of their last six. While the Lakers could catch the Sacramento Kings for eighth place in the West or the Phoenix Suns for seventh, Los Angeles would still be in ninth place in the Western Conference and would not be able to advance to the single-elimination play-in game between the No. 9 and No. 10 seeds.
James, the NBA’s lifetime scoring leader who is still amazing at 39, can accomplish almost anything if he plays another game like this in the postseason.
The Lakers were playing the fourth game of a six-game road trip when the 20-time All Star ended 13 for 17 overall. The team had just lost to Indiana on Friday night, ending their five-game winning streak.
James stated, “I dedicate a lot of time to honing my craft.”
The Lakers led by 20 points in the first quarter and maintained control of the game throughout. Anthony Davis added 24 points and 14 rebounds, and Rui Hachimura finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Only once in the second half did Brooklyn’s deficit approach double digits.
After a terrible start, Cam Thomas led the Nets with 30 points in an attempt to turn things around.
Thomas remarked, “But when somebody hits 9 for 10 from 3, can’t do nothing.” We played pretty well from the second to the fourth, but it’s difficult since he made every three that he attempted. Simply said, we had a difficult first quarter due to our poor start.
Of the 116 points the Lakers scored, 114 came from their starting lineup.
On January 24, 2023, James shot 9 for 14 to make nine 3-pointers against the Clippers. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, his 90% accuracy was the second-best of his career in games when he made at least five 3-pointers. On December 23 of this season, he was 5 for 5 against Oklahoma City.
A little more than 4 minutes into the first quarter, interim coach Kevin Ollie called his first timeout with Brooklyn down 8 for 8 from the field. This was after James had snatched a defensive rebound and found Davis in stride with a long pass for a breakaway dunk. The misery continued until Nic Claxton broke through with a 10-footer, ending Brooklyn’s 0-for-11 start.
Even still, the lead quickly expanded to 24-4 with 4 ½ minutes remaining in the first quarter, and when the Nets were dropping this specific Easter egg, the Barclays Center audience became silent. After one quarter, Brooklyn was outrebounded 21-11 and shot 4 for-21, giving the Lakers a 31-10 lead.
James made three-pointers in the third and fourth quarters to keep the Nets at bay. His eighth of the game came as he was falling to his left from the corner, giving the Lakers a 108-91 advantage.
The next possession found James alone against Claxton on the perimeter. He dribbled between his knees multiple times before completing his ninth three-pointer to make the score 111-93.