NBA
Lakers place LeBron James at the team’s head for a playoff run with limitless possibilities
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All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated1 hour ago on April 23, 2024
After Grizzlies tough guy Dillon Brooks called him old and questioned his skills, LeBron James decided to keep his mouth closed and prove himself on the court. Now that Memphis is eliminated, the Lakers star is finally expressing himself as his whole team has showered him in praise and placed him at the squad’s leader for this playoff run.
Los Angeles are now on the verge of facing Golden State, starting this Tuesday night for the Western Conference’s playoff semifinals. The purple and gold are on a roll after beating the Grizzlies in only six matches, and are now 14-4 in their last stretch of games.
STEPH VS. LEBRON. WARRIORS VS. LAKERS.
This is going to be fun 🍿👀 pic.twitter.com/iu2VpGktew
— ESPN (@espn) April 30, 2023
“It gets even harder when you move a level up,” James said. “We were able to conquer Level 1, and now we move up.”
The Lakers have resurged impressively after the trade deadline in February, adding D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura to their roster with a contagious winning attitude. However, the 38-year-old James has been the one to lead the charge, just as Anthony Davis has been the squad’s most valuable player in recent weeks.
“He just leaves it all out on the floor,” Davis said about the all-time highest NBA scorer. “A lot of us are exhausted. He’s obviously has a little bit more miles on him than all of us probably combined, but we just try to do our part around him to make his job a lot easier (so) he doesn’t have to overexert himself the entire game.”
LeBron hit at least 21 points in five of the six contests against Memphis, also reaching his first 20-point, 20-rebound exhibition of his 20-year career.
“I’m telling you, man, it’s unreal,” said Ham, who before moving to the Bucks’ staff, was a Lakers assistant late in Kobe Bryant’s career. “Like, Kobe was nothing short of amazing. You know, Giannis (Antetokounmpo). I’ve been around some top-tier, elite top-five NBA talent. But Bron, man, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
James has shared his admiration for his teammates too, especially Anthony Davis
While LeBron has mostly contributed offensive players and overall focus and mentality to his squad, he isn’t a strong defensive asset in Los Angeles. Yes, he was able to cast a shadow over Ja Morant during this last first-round series, but he is clear who truly embodies the defense-first philosophy coached by Darvin Ham.
“I think he was AD,” James admitted. “I think we all know it, the world knows it, the basketball guys know, the competition knows … how dominant AD is defensively. He was AD. He was spectacular.”
Take a look at LeBron’s postseason highlights as a Lakers player:
Another player that has contributed greatly to the Los Angeles cause is Russell, who scored a career playoff-high 31 points with 5 three-pointers in their last outing.
“I think the energy since we made that trade, or made that decision to bring guys here, we’ve had an energy that was contagious with our group,” Russell said. “That was one thing we could control. We brought our energy to this team, and it trickled down and it was contagious.”
