The Los Angeles Lakers were able to earn a 103-100 victory over the Golden State Warriors in the Play-In contest between the 7th seed Lakers and 8th seed Warriors.
The Lakers now have earned the outright 7th seed in the Western Conference and will face the Phoenix Suns in Game 1 of the first round in Phoenix on Sunday.
LeBron James led the way for the Lakers with 22 points on 7-of-17 shooting in 35 minutes of playing time. James also grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out 10 assists. James’ biggest shot came from the Staples Center logo: a deep three that wound up being the game-winner with 58 seconds left on the clock. What was more impressive is that he knocked the huge game-winning three down after getting poked in the eye by Draymond Green. James described the difficulty in the situation.
“After the finger to the eye, I was seeing three rims and shot at the middle one. By grace, I was able to knock it down,” said James, who finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists for his sixth triple-double of the season. “I’ve been poked in the eye before.
Lakers Head Coach Frank Vogel was impressed by James’ heroics.
“He proved why he is the best player in the world. Just add it to the list of great plays and accomplishments,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said.
Stephen Curry of the Warriors was even impressed by James’ huge shot. He really broke things down and gave a great look into the mindset of an opponent when something like that happens.
“It’s a great shot,” Curry said of James’ 3. “Broken play … thinking he was kind of out of the play, they found him, he got his balance just in time and knocked it down. That was a tough one because you don’t really expect it to go in. You expect us to get the rebound and have a possession to take the lead. But everything changed when it goes in. All-time great players make great shots, that’s what happens.”
Multiple other Lakers’ players contributed big time to the win.
- Anthony Davis led the way for the Lakers with 25 points on 10 of 24 shooting from the field. Davis also grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out 2 assists.
- Dennis Schroder scored 12 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, and dished out 5 assists.
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 10 points
- Alex Caruso played 30 big minutes off of the bench. He scored 14 points.
Round 1 game 1 is against the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix, Arizona. Tip-off is at 3:30 pm Eastern/12:30 pm Pacific.
