LeBron James sealed a thrilling 123-120 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night with a string of clutch baskets, including a breathtaking reverse slam in the last seconds, which kept the Los Angeles Lakers’ hopes of securing the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference alive.
The Grizzlies had the ball with 15 seconds left and the Lakers were holding onto a three-point lead. GG Jackson made the decision to go to the hoop and launched an outrageous shot that missed the rim entirely. for being knocked around a few times, the loose ball was finally flung out towards midcourt, where James ran for it. Even though he was not the winner of the race, he had open court front of him and was there to intercept Jack White’s effort at a save. He then made the decision to perform a concert.
“I felt like he was gonna have to try to save it to his teammate, so I saw his teammate in my side-view mirror, so I just tried to jump that pass cause he was trying to save it on the sideline,” James later said. “Pretty good read, and I was able to finish it off.”
With a minute remaining in the game, the Grizzlies had temporarily grabbed the lead, but James scored the final six points for the Lakers, including the slam. In 41 minutes, he finished with 37 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and 13 of 20 field goals made. Since his 39th birthday earlier this season, James had at least 35 points in four different games. This one was no exception. Only Michael Jordan (six) has played in more of these games in NBA history when he was 39 or older.
After all results were finalized on Friday, the Lakers have won seven of their previous ten games to move to 46-35 on the season. As a result, they are in charge of securing the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. They will finish in eighth place and avoid the dreaded win-or-go-home game between the ninth and tenth-ranked teams if they defeat the New Orleans Pelicans in Sunday’s season finale.
In the event that the Lakers fall short, though, they might place eighth, ninth, or tenth, contingent on other outcomes. Although they are one game ahead of the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings, those two clubs have the season tiebreaker over the Lakers. Both games are winnable and will put pressure on the Lakers: the Warriors are hosting the Utah Jazz, while the Kings are playing the Portland Trail Blazers at home.
On Sunday, the Lakers, Warriors, and Kings will all play starting at 3:30 p.m. ET. James is only focused on New Orleans, but everyone else will be watching all three matchups.
“I actually won’t [do any scoreboard watching],” James stated. “After all, the games will decide for themselves, and whatever occurs, happens. I have no need to be watching the scoreboard. We’ll concentrate on New Orleans and move on from there because that’s the way things stand and Sunday is the final game of the season.”