At OKC, the Lakers and LeBron James had a rematch | NBA

Unconvincing and reassuring since the start of the season, the Lakers still managed to get back above the 50% winning mark (14-13) last night. The day after his unfortunate defeat on the floor of the Grizzlies, the Californian franchise has done the job on that of the Thunder, in the wake of a super LeBron James.

Author of 33 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 interceptions and 2 blocks (!), 13/20 on shots and 4/6 3-points, the “King” has effectively made his power speak for three quarters of the time . Perfectly compensating for the absence of Anthony Davis, preserved due to knee discomfort.

A real show of strength, therefore, which has the gift of reassuring those who could doubt his physique. All against a team with which he had scores to settle …

« The last time they faced us there was nothing I could do but sit still, watch our advances evaporate and watch them from the bench celebrating on our parquet floor. “Lamented the quadruple MVP, injured at that time and who feels better and better today, in the columns of the Los Angeles Times.

Do not repeat the same mistakes as in the past

As LeBron James points out here, the “Purple & Gold” have already been picked up, not once but twice, by OKC at the start of the season. While they had a 26-point lead away from home at the end of October, then 19 points ahead at home in early November.

Two rather worrying setbacks for the men of Frank Vogel, natural candidates for the title, facing a franchise yet called to play the last places of his conference. But which have, in part, been erased this Friday.

For his part, DeAndre Jordan, who took the opportunity to become the 41st player in history to reach the 10,000 rebound mark in his career, was just as motivated as LeBron James before this trip to OKC, to avoid d ‘possible regrets in the future.

« [Jusqu’ici], there are teams we should have beaten that we lost to », Recalled the veteran pivot. ” Except we don’t want to look back to April and be like ‘Ah, but we could have had home advantage actually. We could have done this, we could have done that, if we had finished our matches better. ‘ »

A solid collective service

Superbly supported by Avery Bradley (22 points, 6/8 at 3-points), no stranger to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s little game, but also Austin Reaves (13 points, 5 rebounds) and Talen Horton-Tucker (11 points) , LeBron James was necessarily delighted with this great contribution from the Californian “role players”.

All the more without Anthony Davis, and taking into account the discreet performances of Russell Westbrook (8 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists) and Carmelo Anthony (7 points, at 1/6 to 3-points).

« It’s much easier to defend a single player than to defend five. “, Explained first the All-Star winger. ” As a team, it is important for our role players that we [LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook et Carmelo Anthony, ndlr] get the attention of two, three or four players and that we can serve them, making sure that the ball is circulating well. »

This performance of the Lakers also had the merit of also satisfying Frank Vogel, who was able to appreciate the nice 19/42 of his players, behind the arc.

« I am really proud of my group, which learned the lessons of the match [à Memphis], where we did not know how to play in a simple way, finding open players and forcing certain things », Confided, after the fact, the coach Angeleno. ” We circulated the ball well and therefore our shots were good. We shot really well at 3-pointers. »

And Frank Vogel to conclude, on the subject of the importance of privileging, as in this meeting, altruism to individualism.

« The open player will always be more talented than any player on our team. Except maybe LeBron James, come on [il sourit]. The important thing is really to find the open player. Everyone is capable of scoring points in this team. So we have to trust each other, without worrying about who shines the most, night after night. »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFQD_BCSlO0