{"id":6546,"date":"2023-11-02T19:16:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T16:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/6546\/lebron-james-takes-over-again\/"},"modified":"2023-11-02T19:16:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T16:16:00","slug":"lebron-james-takes-over-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/?p=6546","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James &#8216;takes over&#8217; again as Lakers outlast Clippers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James &#8216;takes over&#8217; again as Lakers outlast Clippers\u060c<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<ul class=\"authors\">\n<li class=\"mugshot-shown\">\n<div class=\"author-img\"><\/div>\n<p>Dave McMenamin, ESPN editor<span class=\"timestamp \">November 2, 2023, 8:25 a.m.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-overlay\">Close<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.\n<\/li>\n<li>Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009 to 2014, the Cavaliers from 2014 to 2018 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005 to 2009.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>LOS ANGELES \u2014 Midway through overtime in the Los Angeles Lakers&#8217; 130-125 <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/win\/\"   title=\"win\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">win<\/a> over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday \u2014 with LeBron James&#8217; playing time already approaching 40 minutes \u2014 Austin Reaves had a decision to take.<\/p>\n<p>By storming the field on a counter-attack, having just stolen the ball from Kawhi Leonard, Reaves could try to finish at the basket himself or involve his 38-year-old teammate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt no point after I got that ball did I think I was going to shoot it,\u201d Reaves said.  \u201cI saw it and I was going to cross it all the way.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<h2 class=\"editorial-title\">Editor&#8217;s Choice<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/LeBron-James-takes-over-again-as-Lakers-outlast-Clippers.jpg&#038;w=130&#038;h=130&#038;scale=crop&#038;location=center.jpeg\" width=\"65\" height=\"65\"\/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t just any pass.  Reaves threw an alley-oop over his shoulder, and James, who was charging hard, took it home to give the Lakers a five-up lead with 2:12 to play.  This prompted the Clippers to call a timeout and sent the crowd into a daze.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like I can throw it anywhere and he\u2019ll go get it,\u201d Reaves said of James.  \u201cThat\u2019s the crazy thing about how much time he\u2019s playing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>James added, after finishing with 35 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists in 42 minutes: &#8220;I&#8217;m just happy that I&#8217;m still able to go after him at this point in my career. I mean, he&#8217;s got me trusted me to go get it. , so I wanted to go.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The dunk capped a dominant finish to the game for the four-time MVP, who was instrumental in the Lakers ending an 11-game losing streak against the Clippers by scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, with a record 6 of 8 from the field while doing so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean, he took over,\u201d Lakers guard D\u2019Angelo Russell said of James.<\/p>\n<p>The win brought the Lakers&#8217; record to 3-2, and James continued to stand out in late-game situations.  He scored 51 points (10.2 points per game) in the fourth quarter and overtime this season, shooting a combined 21 of 31 from the field (68%).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we keep the game close, I feel like in the fourth quarter, that\u2019s when I\u2019m at my best,\u201d James said.  \u201cIf the game is close, I can play to help us win the game, no matter who is on the court for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With Los Angeles hit by the injury bug early, Taurean Prince (left knee soreness) became a late scratch Wednesday and joined Rui Hachimura (concussion protocol), Gabe Vincent (left knee swelling) and Jarred Vanderbilt (left heel bursitis) on repair, James took over.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was phenomenal throughout the sequence,\u201d said Anthony Davis, who had another good performance with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocks.  &#8220;I think [the coaching staff is] sort of banking minutes at first then let [James] just kind of flow throughout the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the caveat that comes with the late-game outburst is that James regularly meets the team&#8217;s playing time guideline of limiting him to 28-30 minutes per game.<\/p>\n<p>In five games, James has played an average of 35.6 minutes, a slight increase from the 35.5 minutes played last season.  As Lakers coach Darvin Ham has more options, he will reduce James&#8217; playing time, as was the goal, to keep him as fresh as possible for the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>For now, the team is content to find their place by asking James to take them home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s not just preparing to be available and be another body on the field,\u201d Ham said.  &#8220;He&#8217;s preparing to be at a very high level. Not only available, but available and elite. So kudos to him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James &#8216;takes over&#8217; again as Lakers outlast Clippers\u060c Dave McMenamin, ESPN editorNovember 2, 2023, 8:25 a.m. Close Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009 to 2014, the Cavaliers from 2014 to 2018 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005 to 2009. LOS ANGELES \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1447,1252,2036,3157,1406,221],"class_list":["post-6546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","tag-clippers","tag-james","tag-lakers","tag-lebron","tag-outlast","tag-takes"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6548,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6546\/revisions\/6548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}