LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are on a tear. They’ve won four games in a row and the most recent victory, a 121-113 triumph over the San Antonio Spurs at the Staples Center on Wednesday night, came on the strength of James’ 42 points with 20 of those coming in the fourth quarter. You can see the highlights of his performance above.
James’ game-high 42 points came on 15-of-24 shooting from the field, 3-of-7 from three-point range (including an insanely deep triple in the second half) and 9-of-13 shooting from the free-throw line. He also had five rebounds and six assists. Despite his high usage on the night, James only had two turnovers in what was one of his best performances of the season.
While James took over in the fourth quarter, he did get some help from Kyle Kuzma who poured in 22 points, including three 3-pointers and he grabbed nine rebounds. Lonzo Ball chipped in with 14 points and nine assists. In a losing effort, the Spurs were led by a 32-point, 7-rebound outing from DeMar DeRozan and a 31-point, 7-rebound showing from Rudy Gay.
The Spurs are in a bit of tailspin. The loss drops them to 11-14 on the season and an abysmal 4-10 record on the road. The team has now lost two games in a row and seven of its last 10. The Spurs have reached the postseason every year since the 1997-98 season, which was the first full year with Gregg Popovich as head coach. As of now, the team is 14th in the Western Conference standings.
Meanwhile, the Lakers are playing their best basketball of the season. At 15-9, the team is fifth in the Western Conference and winners of seven of their last 10 games. James is having his predictably awesome season averaging 28.4 points, 6.6assists and 7.6 rebounds per game.
The two teams play each other again on Saturday in San Antonio.