LeBron James helped the Los Angeles Lakers hand the Miami Heat their first home loss of the season on Friday with a 113-110 decision on the shores of South Beach. But it certainly wasn’t an easy night at the office for James who struggled throughout the first half with seven turnovers. Fueled in part by LeBron’s sloppy ball-handling, Miami built a 59-51 lead at intermission.
During the break, however, Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins got on James and told him that he was playing too passively. That pep talk eventually led to LeBron turning things around in the second half and closing the game with two dominant quarters of basketball. He’d add nine assists and only commit one more turnover following the conversation with his teammates while finishing with 28 points, 12 dimes and nine rebounds on the night.
LeBron says AD and Boogie pushed him to bounce back from 7 turnovers in the first half đź’Ż pic.twitter.com/Svvh6EkaGc
— ESPN (@espn) December 14, 2019
“My teammates got on me,” LeBron told ESPN during his postgame interview about the halftime turnaround in Miami. “They told me you’re playing too passive. You’re thinking about the game too much instead of just reading and reacting and doing what you do.
“Starting with this guy [Anthony Davis]–he got on me. Boogie Cousins got on me. And they told me, just be me. Thank God we have two halves in a basketball game where I can flush the first one and come back and help us win.”
The win improved L.A.’s record to 23-3–a mark that is now tied with the Milwaukee Bucks for the best record in the NBA. In addition to combining with Cousins to deliver a message that LeBron needed to hear during the precise moment he needed to hear it, Davis totaled a game-high 33 points to go along with 10 rebounds and three blocks. He’s proving to be an effective business partner for James both on and off the floor and that chemistry has the Lakers stock soaring right now.
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