LeBron’s desperation three lifts Lakers over Warriors in NBA play-in thriller
LeBron James made a long, go-ahead three-pointer with 58.2 seconds remaining, rallying the Los Angeles Lakers to a 103-100 victory over the Golden State Warriors in a Western Conference play-in tournament game Thursday night.
James finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his fifth tripledouble of the season, Anthony Davis scored 13 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, and the Lakers overcame 37 points from league scoring champ Stephen Curry.
Golden State had a chance to send it into overtime, but Kent Bazemore had a bad inbounds pass and sealed the victory for the Lakers who earned the seventh seed for the playoffs and a first-round matchup with secondseeded Phoenix.
Golden State host Memphis, who defeated San Antonio in Wednesday’s other play-in game, for the eighth seed on Friday. The winner of that game will face top-seeded Utah.
James and Davis were 3 of 19 from the field in the first half before getting back on track. They combined to go 14 of 22 in the second half.
Los Angeles trailed by 13 at halftime and were down by 12 midway through the third quarter before rallying back. The defending NBA champions didn’t get their first lead until Kyle Kuzma’s layup 56 seconds into the fourth quarter put them up 81-79.
The final 12 minutes saw three lead changes and five ties. The Warriors were up 98-95 on Curry’s bank shot before the Lakers scored eight of the game’s final 10 points.
Alex Caruso scored 14 points and Dennis Schroder added 12.
Andrew Wiggins added 21 points for Golden State.
Golden State led 55-42 at halftime as Curry buried a three-pointer at the buzzer. The Lakers opened the second half by going on a 14-2 run that included seven points by Dennis Schroder.
Schroder’s three-pointer drew Los Angeles within a point at 57-56, but he fouled Curry when he attempted a shot beyond the arc.
Curry made all three of his shots to start a 15-4 spurt by the Warriors. Curry’s fourth three-pointer of the night pushed Golden State’s advantage to 72-60 before the Lakers regained control and ended the quarter with a 17-7 rally.
Golden State took a 9-2 lead as it made four of its first five shots from the field, while the Lakers missed six of their first seven. The Warriors extended their first-quarter advantage to 15-4 when Wiggins hit a three-pointer with 7:38 remaining in the quarter.
The Lakers countered with a 12-2 run to get within one, but couldn’t draw closer in the quarter as Golden State led 28-22 after 12 minutes.
The Warriors were up by five midway through the second quarter before steadily pulling out to a doubledigit lead. Curry had 10 points in the period, including three three-pointers in the final four minutes. His step-back shot from beyond the arc at the buzzer gave Golden State their largest lead of the first half.
No 9 Memphis Grizzlies 100, No 10 San Antonio Spurs 96
Dillon Brooks scored eight of his 24 points in the fourth quarter to help put Memphis ahead to stay and the Grizzlies eliminated the Spurs 100-96 on Wednesday night in the first Western Conference play-in game.
The Grizzlies will play the Warriors for the No 8 seed Friday night and a first-round series starting Sunday against the top-seeded Utah Jazz. Memphis are trying to snap a skid of three straight seasons without a postseason berth.
Jonas Valanciunas had a seasonhigh 23 rebounds and 23 points for Memphis. Ja Morant added 20 points and six assists. Jaren Jackson Jr had 10 points.
DeMar DeRozan and Rudy Gay each scored 20 points as the Spurs lost their fifth straight. Dejounte Murray had his fifth triple-double with 10 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. Keldon Johnson added 11 and Jacob Poeltl 10.
The Spurs last led 83-81 on Johnson’s three with 6:55 left. Brooks started his scoring spurt with the Grizzlies trailing 80-79, and his driving five-footer with 5:57 to go put Memphis ahead to stay at 85-83.
Memphis pulled out all the stops possible in a pandemic in the biggest home game since the Grizzlies’ last playoff appearance in 2017 against these very Spurs.
Inside the FedExForum, capacity was doubled to 40% with a sellout of 7,019 fans, and a yellow towel proclaiming “NXT UP MEMPHIS” was on each seat. Rapper Al Kapone performed outside during halftime and was shown on the video board with fans joining in waving towels when he sang “Whoop That Trick”.
In five playoff series between these teams, the Spurs swept three of the four San Antonio won. Memphis’ only series victory came in 2011 as the then-No 8 seed, the start of seven straight playoff seasons for the Grizzlies.
Those players are long gone with Mike Conley now with the Jazz and Marc Gasol with the Lakers.
On this night, the Grizzlies’ next generation took over with a roster that
was the second-youngest at the start of this season and Jackson, the No 4 overall draft pick in 2018, along with Morant, the second overall draft pick in 2019 and reigning NBA Rookie of the Year.
The Grizzlies led 38-19 after the first quarter. Gay dunked late in the first quarter, starting the Spurs on a 22-3 run that pulled them within 41-39 of the Grizzlies. But Morant ended Memphis’ cold spurt with a dunk, and Memphis led 56-49 at halftime.
The teams each scored 16 points in the third as this game turned into a battle. Memphis took a 72-65 lead into the fourth quarter.
This article was amended on 20 May 2021. The Lakers scored eight of the game’s final 10 points, not seven of the game’s final nine as stated in the original version of this story
with Levy against the notion of selling a player who remains under contract for three years. What the Neville interview does represent is the latest step in
Kane’s exit strategy. The timelines are a little blurred and at no point does the player say explicitly that he wants to leave, but it does not take much to read between the lines.
“I don’t want to come to the end of my career and have any regrets so I want to be the best I can be,” Kane said. “I’m at that stage where you could say people might look at it as though he’s desperate for trophies, he needs trophies. I still feel like I’ve got almost another career to play. I’ve got seven, eight years … kind of what I’ve had so far in the Premier League. I’ve still got so much more to give.
“I’m not afraid to say I want to be the best. I’m not afraid to say I want to try and get on the level that Ronaldo and Messi got to. That’s my ultimate goal – to be winning trophies season in, season out; scoring 50, 60, 70 goals, season in, season out.”