LeBron James had perhaps his best game of the young NBA season so far last night. His hot shooting buried Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.
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The Lakers outplayed the Bucks through the course of the battle between the two greatest physical freaks in the league. Anthony Davis and LeBron James forced their way from the beginning of the game. This resulted in easy buckets for the likes of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, among others.
KCP continued his red hot shooting with a 7-of-10 performance on the night. The Bucks had a neat offensive game from many of their players, but they had no answer for the LeBron-AD double whammy. The likes of Montrezl Harrell also came in clutch with their buckets in the 4th.
This wasn’t the Lakers’ best game of the season as a unit, but it feels like they’re getting closer to their peak. Their defense on Giannis for most of the game was quite effective.
LeBron James plays down his performance against Giannis and the Bucks
James was surprisingly low-key about winning the head-to-head scoring matchup over Giannis:
“I can care less about that. I try to play well and help our team win against any team. We just wanted to see how we were going to play and then get the new guys acclimating to what we do as a culture on and off the floor. I’d say we’re doing some good things. We just want to continue to build off of that.”
Lebron James’s night vs Bucks:
38 minutes
34 pts
6 rebounds
8 assists
13/25 FG 6/10 3PTFG
1 STL 1BLK
+/- 15
An unbelievable night from the 👑 in a possible NBA finals preview. #Lakers #lebron #lebronjames #kingjames #Bucks #giannis #fearthedear #nba #nbastats #LALvsMIL pic.twitter.com/pWRf10JakT— sparrownba (@sparrownba) January 22, 2021
AD downplayed his own defense against Giannis as well. “It’s team defense,” Davis said. “It’s not just the guy on the ball guarding him.”