LeBron leads epic Lakers fightback to beat Clippers
LOS ANGELES: LeBron James staged the biggest fourth quarter comeback of his two-decade career on Wednesday as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied from a 21-point deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Clippers 116-112.
The 39-year-old NBA icon reeled off 34 points – 19 of them in the fourth quarter – to help the Lakers claim a pulsating victory over their in-form city rivals at the Crypto.com Arena.
It was another storybook performance from the evergreen James, who along with the Lakers had looked to be heading for an emphatic defeat after the Clippers jumped into a 98-77 lead early in the final frame. But an inspired James helped the Lakers outscore the Clippers 39-16 in the fourth quarter to see them home.
“The game is not ever over until it’s double zeroes (on the play clock),” James told an on-court interviewer after the win.
James was backed by 20 points and 12 rebounds from Anthony Davis, while D’Angelo Russell added 18 and Rui Hachimura 13.
Kawhi Leonard topped the Clippers scoring with 26 points.
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue took responsibility for the loss.
“When you’re up 21 points you can’t lose a game like that,” Lue said.
“I don’t think that’s ever happened since I’ve been coaching – to lose a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter.”
In other games on Wednesday, Nikola Jokic bagged his fourth straight triple-double as the Denver Nuggets overpowered the Sacramento Kings 117-96.
Two-time former NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists to bag his 19th triple of the season.
The Serbian star had gone into the game facing an intriguing duel with Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis, who himself has been in blistering form since the All-Star break with three consecutive triple-doubles.
But Sabonis was effectively bottled up by Denver as the Nuggets staged a superb second quarter rally to turn the game around after trailing by 15 points.
Sacramento had swept into a 4732 lead to raise hopes of a moraleboosting road victory. — AFP