“I’ve never dropped out of the playoffs two years in a row in my life.”
‘King’ LeBron James grinds his teeth during the All-Star break. In the season where he stepped on the all-time high scorer notice, James expressed his will not to be eliminated from the playoffs for the second year in a row. The Los Angeles Lakers only watched the playoffs last season, and fell to 13th place this season as well. The 2004-2005 season is the only time James has failed in spring basketball for two consecutive years since his debut in the 2003-2004 season. James predicted a great turnaround in the second half and strengthened his resolve for the playoffs.
The Lakers won three games in a row thanks to the combined efforts of James and Anthony Davis, who scored 56 points. The gap with 10th place New Orleans, which is the final line of the play-in tournament, is only one game. The gap with 6th place, which grabs spring basketball tickets without a play-in tournament, is 2.5 games.
The Lakers won a 111-108 come-from-behind victory against the Dallas Mavericks held at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on the 27th안전놀이터. The Lakers won 29 wins (32 losses) and took 11th place in the Western Conference.
The Lakers gave up the lead early in the game. He was swung by Luka Doncic and hit by Tim Hardaway Jr. in succession. The score gap quickly widened to 27 points. The Lakers started to gain strength in the third quarter. They scored 31 points in the 3rd quarter only, and hit the 3rd quarter with 78-81, and eventually succeeded in reversing. Davis played a big role in the air defense, recording 30 points and 15 rebounds that day, and James contributed with 26 points and 8 rebounds. Jared Vanderbilt recorded a ‘double-double’ with 15 points and 17 rebounds.
The Lakers, who recorded three consecutive victories with the victory that day, caught up with New Orleans in 10th place, the last line of the play-in tournament, by one game. The gap with sixth place Dallas, which can enjoy spring basketball without a play-in tournament, is only 2.5 games.
In Dallas, Doncic played hard with 26 points and 9 rebounds, and Kyrie Irving with 21 points and 11 rebounds, but the outside gun was disappointing. Irving and Doncic threw 11 3-pointers in the second half, making only two. It seems that Doncic and Irving have not yet come together. Doncic and Irving are recording 1 win and 3 losses in four games together this season.
The Portland Trail Blazers took a valuable victory on a fire show with Damian Lillard scoring 71 points. On this day, the Lakers went on a three-game winning streak and briefly rose to 11th place, but Portland continued their hopes for spring basketball by taking the 11th place again with Lillard’s performance.
Portland won 131-114 in the Houston Rockets game held at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, USA that day. Lillard recorded 71 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, becoming the fifth player in history to record 70 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in one game.
Lillard was also named as the eighth player to score 70 or more points in a game. On the 3rd of last month, Cleveland Cavaliers Donovan Mitchell also scored 71 points against the Chicago Bulls.
Houston, which failed to stop Lillard, is on a 9-game losing streak and is at the bottom of the league.