Dave McMenaminESPN Staff Writer Oct 27, 2023, 3:30am ET5 minutes read
LeBron takes over late and puts the Lakers in the lead
LeBron James gives the Lakers the lead with consecutive shots in the fourth quarter.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lakers coach Darvin Ham was down a dozen early in the fourth quarter and faced an 0-2 start to the season barring a comeback against the Phoenix Suns. He had to make a decision: stick to the 30-minute policy scheduled for LeBron James’ playing time and only have him on the court for about half of the final frame, or go to the limit and see if the Lakers finish 21st -year veterans can lead to victory.
Ham chose the latter. James almost single-handedly outscored the Suns while playing the entire fourth quarter, and the Lakers won 100-95, rebounding from a disappointing opening loss in Denver.
“He asked me if I could go [whole] quarter, and I looked at the time and the score and what was going on in the game and it was an easy answer for me,” James said after posting 21 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds in 35 minutes . “I know how much work I put in to be able to play quarters or whatever the case may be. And I understand that we definitely have a system in place, but tonight it required me to step outside the box.
The Lakers outscored the Suns 28-11 in the fourth period, with James scoring 10 points, including four consecutive layups, to break a 91-91 tie and give Los Angeles a four-point lead with 41.0 seconds left.
To give the 38-year-old star a little more rest, Ham saved three timeouts for the fourth. He called one with 4:55 left, another with 3:07 left, and the Suns gave the Lakers two more breaks. Former Lakers coach Frank Vogel used a challenge to avoid an ejection with 2:19 left and called for an offensive possession with 26.6 seconds left.
“We were behind a little bit for most of the first half and it wasn’t right,” Ham said. “He has that spirit, that intensity to put the team on his shoulders. And I had downtime to play with. And so I went to him and said, ‘How do we feel? What do we want to do?’ And he answered my question. And you saw the results. So we used some of our downtime to take a few breathers.”
Anthony Davis was right there as James helped Los Angeles complete the comeback. Davis scored 13 of his team-high 30 points in the fourth quarter and finished the game with 12 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocks.
It was a better performance for Davis, who went scoreless in the second half of the Lakers’ loss to the defending champion Nuggets on Tuesday.
During his post-game on-field interview with the TNT broadcast, James adamantly dismissed criticism of Davis’ performance.
“We don’t care about criticism of AD,” said James. “We dont care. Nothing bothers us. AD doesn’t care. I don’t know if the guys figured this out. AD doesn’t care. He’s not on social media so he doesn’t see any of that crap.” . He rarely talks unless it’s about us, so we don’t care and he definitely doesn’t. He just goes out and does his job and we’re lucky to have AD.”
True to form, Davis didn’t even mention his individual offensive performance when asked about the Lakers’ fourth-quarter performance, instead focusing on the team’s defensive performance.
“Just being able to make stops and rebounds,” Davis said after the Lakers tied the Suns on 5-for-20 shooting. “That’s it. We have enough offensively on the court to score the basketball [Kevin Durant] go, which just makes it difficult for him. And then just make sure the others don’t hit you. That’s what we tried to do.”
Durant, playing without fellow Suns teammates Devin Booker (foot soreness) and Bradley Beal (lower back pain), led all scorers with 39 points, passing Hakeem Olajuwon for 12th place on the career scoring list.
“We don’t have many matchups left,” James said after he and Durant played their first regular-season game against each other since Christmas 2018. “I’m not sure how many we have left. So you never want that.’ It’s a given when you’re around such a great player, one of the best to ever play the game.”
After that, Ham was already focused on how he could continue to preserve James’ record as the season progressed and Los Angeles moved closer to its championship goal.
“Obviously the recovery process begins now,” Ham said. “But I take my hat off to him, man. He always surprises us. A lot of these young professionals out here look and see what he does.