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LOS ANGELES, March 12 (US): LeBron James continues to deliver age-defying performances.
The 37-year-old Lakers star earned 50 points Friday night and became the oldest player to play multiple 50-point games in a season in the Los Angeles 122-109 win over the Washington Wizards.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that James outlasted Bernard King, who was 34 when he did so in 1990-91 with Washington.
“He’s really good at basketball, that’s LeBron James,” said Lakers coach Frank Vogel. “I think what sets me apart is that the league hasn’t seen a player at this point in his career doing what he’s doing. Just an incredible, epic performance.”
It was the 15th 50-point game in James’ 19-year career, including post-season. He is also the first Lakers player since Kobe Bryant in April 2007 to score 50 in consecutive home games. James had a season-high 56 in his win over Golden State last Saturday.
It was also the first time since 2009 with Cleveland that James had multiple 50-point games in a regular season.
“We just needed to gather our energy and get more details on how we wanted to attack the tackles. We did that, especially in the third quarter,” James, who was 18 out of 25 off the field and made six three-pointers in 36 minutes, said. “I managed to hit a hot streak at some point. I just tried to stay in that area as long as possible and hit a couple.”
James also had six rebounds and moved past Dikembe Mutombo to 12th on the list of professional defensive rebounds in the NBA with a score of 8,553.
James reclaimed the Lakers with 12 consecutive points during the 22-8 period when they led 82-75 with 2:25 remaining. James’ attack included a thunderous mid-quarter dunk to lift Los Angeles 73-70.
“For us to be able to get into the third quarter, that was one of our bottom quarters this year, and he carried us on 23 points in that third and we came out with 37 points. He was big for our team, and he was big for the ball club,” James said.
He then had 14 points in the fourth quarter as the Lakers steadily moved away. Los Angeles, which had lost six of its last seven in the game, went up by 18 midway through the fourth inning.
“Once you give them life, Bron was exceptional tonight, and it’s hard to stop him. Wizards player Kristap Porzingis, who scored 14 rebounds along with 14 points, said, “Even at his age, he still manages to do unbelievable things like that. “Once he was gone, it was really hard to stop whatever he was doing.”
Malik Monk scored 21 points and Tallinn Horton Tucker added 15 points for the Lakers (29-37), who stayed in ninth place in the Western Conference.
Kyle Kuzma, who has played with the Lakers for four seasons, led Washington with 23 points, with rookie Cory Kisbert scoring 21 points, including five three-pointers.
Witches (29-36) have fallen twice in a row and five from the last seven. They are 2 1/2 games behind Atlanta for last place in the Eastern Conference.
“They came out really hard. We had a little momentum at the end of the second half,” coach Wes Unselde Jr. said. Obviously, we struggled to score. That probably showed up later in the second half, the third quarter, but we let the ball stick a lot – one pass, no pass possession. This is a difficult way to play against a high-quality defensive team.”
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Kuzma, who were part of the Lakers’ NBA 2020 squad, received a video tribute during the first timeout. Both players were traded to Washington during the sabbatical to acquire Russell Westbrook.
“I’m just a kid from Flint, Michigan, at the end of the day. I always think about it, how to be from a small town, come to L.A., and make some noise,” Kuzma said. “This is the American dream, frankly to me. I love hearing it, and a pleasure to hear it, for the fans to embrace me so much.”
Bob Caldwell struggled on his return to Los Angeles. He was 1 out of 6 from the ground and only had four points. It also suffered a technical error late in the first quarter.
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