3 minute read
LeBron James has wound back the clock with a final quarter for the ages to lift the LA Lakers to a remarkable comeback victory over the Clippers.
LeBron James outscored the entire LA Clippers team in the final quarter as the LA Lakers overcame a 21-point deficit to produce a remarkable 116-112 NBA victory.
The Lakers trailed 98-77 in the opening stages of the final term on Wednesday night (Thursday AEDT).
But James wound back the clock from that point on, nailing five long-range bombs to outscore the entire Clippers team 19-16 in the last quarter to lead his side to the win.
The 39-year-old finished with 34 points on 7-of-12 shooting from three-point land, while Anthony Davis chipped in with 20 points as the Lakers improved their season record to 32-28.
The Lakers outscored the Clippers 39-16 in the final term in one of the great comebacks of the franchise's history.
James either scored or assisted on 11 of the Lakers' 13 baskets in the final period.
Kawhi Leonard had the chance to level the scores, but he missed a 12-foot shot with five seconds to play.
James gathered the ball and threw a long pass to Cam Reddish for the game-winning dunk.
"He had to take the cape tucked under the seat on the bench. It was time for him to whip it out," Lakers coach Darvin Ham said of James.
"He put the cape on and just got aggressive."
Elsewhere, Luka Doncic produced a birthday special to help the Dallas Mavericks put aside their heart-breaking buzzer-beating loss to Cleveland with a 136-125 win over Toronto.
Australians Josh Green (five points, seven rebounds) and Dante Exum (four points, five assists) played handy cameos for Dallas.
But it was Doncic who stole the show on his 25th birthday, the star Slovenian nailing 30 points to go with his 16 assists and 11 rebounds.
It marked Doncic's 11th triple-double of the NBA season.
Kyrie Irving scored 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter to shut the door on any hopes of a Toronto fightback.
The win for Dallas came just a night after Max Strus hit a half-court buzzer-beater for Cleveland to give the Cavaliers a 121-119 win over the Mavericks.
Cleveland suffered a dose of their own heartbreak when they went down to Chicago 132-123 in double overtime.
The Cavaliers led by three points with 13 seconds remaining in the first overtime period, but Chicago's DeMar DeRozan made all three of his free throws to level the scores after being fouled while shooting from long range.
Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell missed a 20-foot jump shot with time expiring, with DeRozan then scoring 11 points in the second overtime period to fire Chicago to victory.
DeRozan finished with 35 points to go with his 10 rebounds, while Andre Drummond had a monster night on the boards with 26 rebounds to go with his 17 points.
The Minnesota Timberwolves (42-17) moved into outright top spot in the Western Conference with a 110-101 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Denver Nuggets improved to 40-19 with a 117-96 win over the Sacramento Kings.
Jamal Murray scored 32 points for the Nuggets, while Nikola Jokic had 14 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists to post his fourth straight triple-double.
In Indiana, the Pacers had three players produce double-double displays on the way to beating the New Orleans Pelicans 123-114.
Pascal Siakam (24 points, 11 rebounds), Myles Turner (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Tyrese Haliburton (17 points, 13 assists) all produced big games for Indiana to improve their season record to 34-26.
Brandon Ingram top-scored for the Pelicans with 30 points, while Zion Williamson (23 points) and CJ McCollum (23 points) were also influential.
