LOS ANGELES – Two decades into one of the most decorated careers in NBA history and there is little LeBron James has not accomplished. MVPs, Finals MVPs and other hardware pack his trophy case, pages of league records have his name etched on them. Yet on Wednesday, as James walked off the Crypto.com Arena floor, he did it having achieved something he had never done before: erase a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit and lead his team to a win.
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Facing a rival, in the 97th—and final—regular season game between the co-tenants of Los Angeles’s downtown arena, James was brilliant. The final stat line: 34 points, six rebounds and eight assists, but that only tells part of the story. James connected on 61.9% of his field goals and 58.3% of his threes. The Los Angeles Clippers were 31–1 this season when entering the fourth quarter with a lead. James’s 19 points in the final 12 minutes sent them home 31–2 after a 116–112 Lakers win.
