LeBron James led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 106-103 home win over Kevin Durant's Phoenix Suns on Tuesday and advance to the semifinals of the new NBA Cup.
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On Thursday in Las Vegas, the Lakers will face the New Orleans Pelicans and Milwaukee will face Indiana, who defeated Boston on Monday. The final will also be played in Las Vegas on Saturday.
At 38 years old (39 on December 30), and for his 21st NBA season, LeBron James has made no secret of his desire to add a new trophy to his incredible list of achievements, that of this NBA Cup created to break the monotony of the regular season.
Proof of his motivation, after a fairly close game, the "King" took matters into his own hands in the last quarter, as he often does.
At 87 apiece, he scored seven points with a jump shot, a drive, and then three points in transition for a small gap before the immediate response of the star opposite Kevin Durant (31 points, 7 rebounds in total), with two clinical long-range shots.
James regained control with two more drives to get two free throws and then score a layup.
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I've been in this situation many times in my career, I know what needs to be done, I'm happy to have made those few plays," James said of his decisive finish.
'Opportunity'
Teammate Austin Reaves buried a crucial three-pointer with 15 seconds left ("THE decisive shot," according to James) before a confusing ending where Reaves nearly lost a ball to the Suns, only to be saved by a late timeout.
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It's worth what it's worth, it's an opportunity at this time of the season, why not take it? We're competitors, so let's fight!" said James, who had 31 points, 8 rebounds and 11 assists, about the new award.
The four-time NBA champion and his teammates head to Las Vegas on Wednesday for the final four of the tournament, which will also feature the Milwaukee Bucks, who earlier crushed the New York Knicks at home, 146-122.
After an offensive and balanced first half (75-72 Milwaukee), the Bucks gradually pulled away to end up crushing the Knicks, unable to contain Giannis Antetokounmpo (35 points, 10 rebounds), Damian Lillard (28 points) and a very skilled three-point team (23 of 38 at 60.4%).
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We played hard from the start. Then we moved the ball well in the second half, finding the players open with a great team effort," praised the Greek.
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We're getting more and more comfortable together," he added of his deal with Lillard, who arrived in the offseason in a shock trade. "We still have a lot of games ahead of us. The more we play together, the better we get. Sometimes we're going to play well, sometimes we're going to play badly, but at the end of the day we're the ones who set the tone for the team.
»Julius Randle was omnipresent for the Knicks (41 points), but his team struggled too much from long range (7 of 23, 30.4%).
All NBA Cup games, except the Finals, also count toward the regular season, which resumes with "classic" games on Wednesday.