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LeBron James is all about greatness. The 37-year-old gave yet another solid example on Wednesday night of why he is considered one of the best ever to have played the game of basketball. James powered the LA Lakers to a 106-101 victory against the Utah Jazz with a 33-point game at Crypto.com Arena despite the home team losing Anthony Davis to injury in the first half.
LeBron James scored 15 of his final points tally in the pivotal fourth quarter, which saw the Lakers outscore the visitors 35-22 to win the game. What was even more impressive was that LeBron scored 10 straight points for the Lakers between the 3:17 and 1:24 mark to help the home turn a 89-94 deficit into a 99-96 advantage.
The Lakers never trailed thereafter, walking away with the five-point victory when the final buzzer sounded. That the win for the Lakers came in the absence of Davis, who rolled his ankle in the second quarter, says a lot about James thriving in adversity.
James' late-game heroics, which ultimately led to the Lakers improving to a 27-31 record for the season, prompted former NBA player Kendrick Perkins to take to social media and give the King his flowers. Perkins tweeted:
"I was about to tweet during the game that LeBron James didn’t look engaged into this game at all! Then all of sudden he went straight into GOAT mode! That was a flat out Great performance @KingJames Carry the hell on…"
LeBron James is very much in the mix for the scoring title
With his 33-point outing against the Utah Jazz, LeBron James' scoring average improved to 29.1 ppg this season. That leaves him only 0.3 ppg adrift of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is currently in pole position with 29.4 ppg in the race for the scoring title. Joel Embiid (29.3 ppg) and Kevin Durant (29.3 ppg) are the only other players ahead of James.
For all the accolades and honors that have come over the course of his 19-year NBA career, James has won the the scoring title only once. James finished as scoring champ in the 2007-08 season when he averaged 30.0 ppg. Should the King win the scoring title this season, he will displace Michael Jordan as the oldest player ever to win the honor. Jordan led the NBA in scoring with 28.7 ppg at age 35 in the 1997-98 season.
