BEVERLY HILLS, May 20, (THEWILL) – National Basketball Association legend LeBron James and his Los Angeles Lakers are back in the playoffs after delivering a back-and-forth thriller in their game against Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.
Lakers’ fans were busting with excitement as they cheered their team to top the Warriors 103-100 on Wednesday in the fourth game of the play-in tournament. The triumph is a result that guarantees the star-studded team that their turbulent and injury-riddled season will not end before the NBA playoffs of this campaign.
It has been tough for the Lakers, as with some other sides in the NBA dealing with injury spells to their regular stars. Apart from James, Anthony Davis, power forward for the Lakers and easily one of their best performers in full strength, has been sidelined by injury this season. Combined, James and Davis missed 63 games in the regular season, which limited them to just 27 games together. Last season, they played 59.
It was one reason they were in the playoffs. However, though Lakers coach Frank Vogel admitted that James was not in full strength before the game and having played in only four of the regular season’s last 30 games, James posted a triple-double with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, and made a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give the Lakers this crucial win.
James’ lingering ankle issue was not the only thing he had to deal with leading to his closing of the game with his three-pointer. The Lakers’ marksman also appeared to have had an issue with his eye after taking a strong smack in the face from Draymond Green on a foul, which left him lying on the court for a bit.
In his post-match comments, James said he was not seeing clearly before he took the shot that won the game: “I was literally seeing three rims out there, so I just shot at the middle one.”
The win allows the Lakers advance to the playoffs, leaving Curry’s Warriors fighting for their lives against the Memphis Grizzlies this Friday. The Grizzlies beat the San Antonio Spurs in the previous play-in game. While that goes on, the Lakers, now the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, will clash against second-seeded Phoenix Suns.
James and Davis are expected to be in the lineup when they meet, likely making the Lakers-Suns series the most anticipated of the first round, with the Lakers still the favourites to win the Western Conference at the end.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
