LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are ready for the Christmas matchup against Brooklyn Nets in a bid to end the 4-game losing streak.
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In his 19th year in the NBA, LeBron James is still leading his team in scoring and minutes played per game. Los Angeles Lakers are currently at 6th position in the western conference with a 16-17 record.
He has been dropping 30 a night on 50%+ FG lately but that is clearly not enough, even against lottery teams. Every team in the league has been severely affected by the Covid outbreak. Lakers cannot use injuries as an excuse for every loss anymore. They still have Russell Westbrook and a 4x Finals MVP.
They will host the Brooklyn Nets for the first game in the renamed crypto.com arena Saturday night. Kevin Durant is still sidelined, but James Harden will be available for the X-mas Day matchup after missing 10 days of NBA action.
LeBron James is excited for the 16th Christmas Day game of his career
The 17x all-star has been the face of the league for over a decade. Naturally, his team is always playing at prime time in the holiday season. NBA shifted from LeBron James vs Stephen Curry to LeBron James vs Kevin Durant for Christmas this year.
Sadly, however, KD has been placed in health and safety protocols, making the upcoming matchup one-sided. Interestingly, LeBron’s first game as a rookie was on Christmas day back in 2003. In the 15 games that he has played so far, the 4x MVP has a 10-5 record with 3 different teams. The King is excited for the upcoming matchup as well despite the Lakers’ struggles lately.
In these games, he averages 25.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7.1 assists 48.4% efficiency. In addition to that, he has 1.5 steals a game and he is only 13 points away from passing Kobe Bryant to become all-time leading scorer on Christmas Day. It’s highly likely that LeBron will achieve this feat Saturday night.
The Los Angeles Lakers can certainly take advantage of Kevin Durant’s absence tonight as Brooklyn Nets don’t fare well without their MVP.
