The Los Angeles Lakers escaped with a 119-117 win over the Houston Rockets Tuesday, and LeBron James was the key behind it all.
After the Lakers went down by 11 points in the second half, James responded by putting matters into his own hands in the fourth quarter.
The 36-year-old forward went on a 10-0 solo run and scored 14 of his 30 points in the last quarter. That sparked the team’s comeback, which was just enough to scrape by Houston’s young squad.
James explained after the game what went into his takeover, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It was my job in the fourth quarter to bring us home and make plays…It’s all about reading, read and reacting, set the defense up in the first half to be able to exploit them in the second half,” James said. “They seen I was passing the ball a lot in the first half, so it opened up a lot of lanes in the fourth quarter and I was able to exploit that.”
James ended the game with 10 assists, marking his second double-double of the regular season. He last posted one on opening night against the Golden State Warriors. Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook carried the brunt of the offense in the first three quarters, then James flipped the switch to close it out.
He also moved up in the NBA’s all-time steals list after stealing the ball twice. James is now No. 12 in history in steals.
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