LeBron James and the Lakers celebrate the victory in Game 4 against Memphis (from Twitter)
Even at his advanced age, LeBron James is finding new records to break.
Tonight (between Monday and Tuesday) he provided his best games in the Lakers uniform, with 22 points and a career high of 20 rebounds (along with 7 assists and two blocks) in the Lakers' 111:117 victory over Memphis, which gave them a 1:3 lead in the series.
And so, at 38 years and 115 days, LeBron became the oldest player ever to reach 20 points and 20 rebounds in any game, regular season or playoffs.
He also became the first Laker since Shaquille O'Neal in 2004 to go 20-20 in a playoff game.
The icing on the cake was a huge clutch basket 0.8 seconds into regulation that forced overtime.
LeBron drove to the basket with typical power and finished elegantly over the outstretched hands of the Defensive Player of the Season, Jaren Jackson Jr., proving for the u-know-how-many times that the claims about his performance in Money Time are completely unfounded.
In fact, it was the eighth time in his career that LeBron has scored a game-tying or game-winning field goal in the final 5 seconds of a playoff game.
Just to get proportions, no player in the last 25 years has reached 5 such baskets (Kobe Bryant is next on the list after LeBron with 4).
In the 0.8 seconds remaining, LeBron still had time to score what could have been one of the biggest baskets in recent years, or at all: Anthony Davis blocked Jay Morant, and James caught the ball and released it quickly from three quarters of the court.
The ball dived in, but it was a little too late, and the game went to overtime.
LeBron provided another moment of greatness in overtime, when he scored a basket and fouled over Dillon Brooks about 30 seconds to the end, in a move that increased the difference to 4 and sealed the deal.
LeBron drove the crowd crazy after the move, explaining that "I felt an outburst of emotions, because I enjoyed our fans so much today, they put on a show."
"He just took the game over in the big time. That's what LeBron James has been doing his whole career," agreed Anthony Davis and Darwin Hamm, the Lakers' coach.
Unstoppable in attack (Photo: Reuters)
He also sacrifices himself in defense (Photo: Reuters)
The adoration that the Lakers players have for LeBron could be seen at the end of the game, when James entered the locker room and his teammates made goat noises, a hint that LeBron is the GOAT.
In general, it seems that the young Lakers are almost LeBron's group, and are willing to put in a lot of effort to meet his standards.
Journalist Chris Haynes reported that "after the loss in the second game of the series, the Lakers players really felt that they had let LeBron down, and that it was their duty to pay him back in the next games."
That's what they did tonight, with Austin Reaves leading the way with 23 points and 6 assists, and DeAngelo Russell contributing 17 including two critical 3-pointers in the final quarter.
Reaves called LeBron's tying basket in the last second of regulation as "the biggest moment of my life," and went to thank James at the end.
"It's the first playoff series in his career, and he talked to me about how much he's enjoyed it so far and said it's the greatest thing he's been a part of. This conversation brought me a lot of happiness," said James, and continued: "We have a lot of young players, My job is to make them feel comfortable. I just want them to play freely, I'll take care of everything related to drills and the tactical side of the game. Even at my age, I'm still able to do it and play properly."
Thanks for the privilege.
Austin Reaves next to LeBron (Photo: GettyImages, Ronald Martinez)
DeAngelo Russell was also left speechless
Lakers legends by his side.
LeBron scores the tying basket that forced overtime (Photo: GettyImages, Ronald Martinez)
But it's not just the Lakers players praising and praising James after tonight's performance.
Even the legends of the Lakers couldn't help but be impressed by his performance.
Magic Johnson wrote that "it was a king's performance", Shaquille O'Neal explained: "Dillon Brooks said he would start respecting LeBron if he scored 40 on him, so today he did 20 and 20 - that's 40 - so start respecting him".
And James Worthy was also enthusiastic and said: "Brooks ran 40, and LeBron scored 22 today that felt like 50."
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LeBron James
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