04/13/26 03:42:00
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04/13 15:41 CDT LeBron James must try to carry yet another team to playoff
success with Lakers' Doncic, Reaves out
LeBron James must try to carry yet another team to playoff success with Lakers'
Doncic, Reaves out
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --- LeBron James probably thought he was done playing this
particular role.
After so many seasons in which James valiantly carried otherwise ordinary teams
to extraordinary achievements, the greatest scorer in NBA history was not even
the Los Angeles Lakers' focal point this year. Down the stretch of his first
full season alongside Luka Doncic, the 41-year-old James became a supporting
player of sorts while Doncic drove the Lakers' offense and rising star Austin
Reaves thrived.
This dynamic worked superbly while the Lakers made a 16-2 surge through March,
winning the Pacific Division and prompting many to wonder if they could even
conjure a challenge to Oklahoma City or San Antonio this spring.
And then Doncic (hamstring) and Reaves (oblique) both went down in the Lakers'
first game of April with significant injuries likely to sideline them for
several weeks.
Just like that, James is alone in the spotlight once again this month, the
Lakers' faint postseason hopes resting on a 23-year NBA veteran who has already
done it all.
When Los Angeles hosts the Houston Rockets in its playoff opener Saturday
night, James will attempt yet another improbable feat in a career full of them:
Keeping the Lakers alive long enough for Doncic and Reaves to return.
"I've had to tap back into a role that I've been accustomed to in the past, but
obviously wasn't what it was this year," James said. "Circumstances have put me
back in here, and I'm just trying to feed off my teammates (while my) teammates
feed off of me. Trying to make things happen for us to continue to stay afloat."
Indeed, this would be a daunting challenge for almost any player except James.
After he racked up 26 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds while the Lakers
beat Golden State last week, he was asked what his team needs from him without
its two top scorers.
"Everything," James said. "So nothing changes for me. Just back to the old
ways."
James has spent the majority of his basketball life lifting up the players
around him. Even after he left Cleveland the first time to relieve that burden
by forming the Miami Heat's super-team, he went home again after four years and
spent four more seasons carrying the Cavaliers to four straight NBA Finals
against Golden State --- most famously stretching the 2015 series to six games
without Kyrie Irving or Kevin Love, followed by leading Cleveland's epic rally
from a 3-1 series deficit to win the 2016 title.
Here in the present, the Lakers realize their promising season has probably
been sabotaged by unlucky injuries. Doncic, who led the NBA in scoring, has
traveled to Spain in hopes of finding some medical way to get back on the court
sooner, while Reaves is almost certainly out for at least the first round.
But with James in their lineup, Lakers coach JJ Redick will always feel they've
got a chance.
"We're going to need him to facilitate, and we're going to need him to score,"
Redick said. "We're going to need him to defend and rebound. I think he
recognizes the task at hand, and he's very locked in. He's played great."
All three of the Lakers' stars have had injury problems this season, and they
only got extensive playing time together recently. James missed training camp
and the first 14 games of the regular season last fall after developing
sciatica, yet he has played in 60 of the ensuing 68 games for Los Angeles,
including five back-to-back sets.
"He had not a good season, not a great --- he had a remarkable season, all
things considered," Redick said. "You take away the fact that he's in his 23rd
year, and he's 41 years old, he had a remarkable season. The fact that those
things are real, and they're very real in terms of the day-to-day management,
it's unbelievable what he did this year."
James' numbers reflect only slight concessions to his age and his lessened
workload behind Doncic and Reaves: His 20.9 points per game were his fewest
since his rookie year in 2003-04, while his 33.2 minutes per game were his
lowest ever.
Yet when he's in the spotlight, James still delivers with remarkable frequency.
He finished the regular season by averaging 24.0 points, 9.7 assists, 6.0
rebounds and 3.0 steals in three Lakers victories to secure homecourt advantage
in the first round.
James was named the Western Conference's player of the week Monday for the 70th
time --- more than any other two players in NBA history combined.
"Just trying to squeeze as much of the juice as I can, until it's as dry as it
can be for me," James said. "I've been given an opportunity to play the game
that I love, and tried to do it at a high level, and I've tried to commit to
it, and the game has given back to me."
___
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