LeBron James DROPPED 38 in Cleveland, Lakers won 131–120
LeBron James DROPPED 38 POINTS AGAIN, BUT this time the Lakers managed to leave with a victory 131–120 against his former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He also had 10 rebounds and 12 assists for his 105th career triple-double and sixth this season.
“I’m all out of words,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said about LBJ’s dunk on Kevin Love. “I don’t have any more. He was in control, had an all-time dunk on his old teammate — his old friend, which I’m sure they enjoyed and will talk about. What a hell of a night.”
James played 11 seasons in two stints with the Cavs and he looks at this team which tries to get to the playoffs for the first time since his departure in 2018. He said that playing in front of a Cleveland crowd will always bring out his best.
“They’ve seen pretty much my whole life in basketball,” he said. “Either seen me or heard about it, who is this kid from 40 minutes south of here playing ball at age 9, 10, 11 , 12? Who is this LeBron kid? And they either drove down to see me or saw me when I came to Cleveland and played in AAU tournaments and seem me play in high school games in the Cleveland area, so they’ve seen me for almost 30 years, since I picked up a basketball.
“That’s the difference between this arena and every other arena in the world.”
James doesn’t care about all the narratives about his team — too old, too hurt and too disconnected — he just enjoys playing the game of basketball.
“None of that stuff matters to me,” he said. “I’m having a blast playing the game of basketball. Once I leave the arena, I leave it there. I’m really having the time of my life right now. I’m working through it and we’re working through it and that’s all that matters.”
Russell Westbrook had 20 and 11 assists and D.J. Augustin added 20 points for the Lakers.
Darius Garland had 29 and 17 assists, Lauri Markkanen had 18 points and nine rebounds, while LeBron’s good friend, Kevin Love, had only 8 points in 20 minutes.
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