On a day when LeBron James wanted to win more than ever, he transformed into gunner Stephen Curry, throwing up to 9 3-pointers in a match.
Shooting 9 3-pointers in 10 attempts in a match is not a stat one often sees in LeBron James, instead it is Stephen Curry or other stars who specialize in long shots in the NBA.
But LeBron once again showed how great and versatile a player he is. At the age of 39, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar just had a match, hitting 9 3-pointers, scoring a total of 40 points to lead the yellow and purple team to a 116-104 victory right on the field of the Brooklyn Nets.
Scoring 40 points with 9 successful 3-pointers against the Brooklyn Nets, LeBron James has balanced his career-high number of long throws in his entire career. But unlike the previous set of 9-14 3PT stats (against the LA Clippers in the 2022-23 season), LeBron is much more effective this time with a success rate of up to 90%, reaching 9-10 3PT.
James has now become the second player in Los Angeles Lakers history to reach the mark of 9 3-pointers multiple times in a match. The late legend Kobe Bryant is the only one left with 4 such matches.
In addition, LeBron also stands shoulder to shoulder with the legendary Michael Jordan to become two rare names in NBA history to have many 40-point games at the age of 39 or older. While James had 2 games reaching the 40 point mark, Jordan had 3 games.
Watch highlights of LeBron James’ 40-point match with 9 successful 3-pointers
Besides the brilliance of LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers have equal contributions from all four remaining names in the starting lineup.
Anthony Davis had a double-double of 24 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks. Rui Hachimura had 20 points and 10 rebounds. D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves scored 18 and 12 points, respectively.
The interesting thing about this match is that the Lakers’ reserve team was almost “completely invisible”. Of the 116 points scored in the whole match, LA’s 5 starting players scored 114 points.
Two rare points from the secondary lineup came from Gabe Vincent, the pitcher who just returned after 5 months out due to a knee injury.
LeBron James and the starting lineup scored 114 out of a total of 116 points for the Los Angeles Lakers this match
Despite being slightly behind in points from the reserve group, the Los Angeles Lakers still won relatively easily against the Brooklyn Nets in this match.
LeBron James and his teammates opened the first half with a long 17-0 scoring streak, keeping Brooklyn in a “point-hungry” state for more than 6 minutes before closing the first 12 minutes with a score of 31-11.
From there, the Lakers did not encounter any more problems except for a slight deviation in the third quarter, going straight to the final victory with a difference of 12 points.
This result helped the Los Angeles Lakers have their 6th victory in the last 7 matches, achieving a total record of 42-33 and ranked 9th in the Western rankings. Right above the Lakers are the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings, two teams with a record of 43-31.
