Don’t tell Charles Barkley, but the Los Angeles Lakers are surging.
The Lakers won their seventh straight game by defeating the Houston Rockets 124-116 on Wednesday night. It was L.A.’s 10th win in 11 games.
In the process, LeBron James repositioned the crown on his head. The 41-year-old great defied physics by reaching back behind the backboard to snag an alley-oop from Marcus Smart and emphatically dunk in the second quarter.
James is already performing at an unprecedented level by simply playing in his NBA-record 23rd season. But the 22-time All-Star and four-time NBA champion is playing at a high level, regardless of age. Coming into Wednesday, James averaged 21.2 points, 6.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 33.3 minutes across 47 games.
Of late, James has really turned back the clock. While his numbers are a far cry from his most dominant years with the Miami Heat, he’s still plenty capable of awe-inducing acrobatics. He even sacrificed his body to dive headfirst after a loose ball during the Lakers’ thrilling overtime win against Denver on Saturday.
Against Houston on Monday, James postered and stared down Jabari Smith Jr. and later dunked on an alley-oop from Austin Reaves. After the Lakers’ win, James was asked whether his athleticism is surprising to him at his age.
“It kinda is, at times,” James told Spectrum SportsNet. “I don’t know if any of those surprised me. I mean the one in the first half, I seen [Smith] tracking me. He’s a pretty good shot blocker, so I had to throw that down. The lob from AR, I told him to throw it, so I had to go get it. But there’s some plays that I still do at this point in my career where it definitely surprises me, for sure.”
By beating the Rockets for a second time in three days on Wednesday night, the Lakers improved to 44-25 and sit as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. James finished with 30 points on 13-of-14 shooting, while All-NBA and All-Star guard Luka Doncic led the way with 40 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds.
The Lakers have looked far from a true contender throughout the season, but they’re finding their rhythm down the stretch of the regular season. With Doncic, James, and Reaves clicking, the Lakers are live to make a run.
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