LeBron James breaks another Michael Jordan record in Lakers’ win over Hawks
LeBron James stepped into a three-point shot on the far side of the court, the ball perfectly rotating through the Friday night air, before it swished through the net. As he ran down the court, he shook his head and gritted his teeth.
Then, James got to the right block, the Atlanta defender on his back, before he spun and swished a midrange jumper. After a stop, he took a step closer to the Atlanta bench, got back to almost that same spot, spun and swished another fadeaway, running past the Hawks as their coach, Quin Snyder, frustratingly called a timeout to try to put a stop to it.
A day after Charles Barkley ripped Lakers coach JJ Redick for not being able to make the Lakers great, the coach responded with an indifferent ‘don’t care.’
A day after James scored 38 points to lead the Lakers to a shorthanded win against Portland, he was at it again, this time against a dangerous Atlanta team. Looking ageless against a parade of young, athletic, long wings helplessly trying to stop him, James led the Lakers to a 119-102 win — their 20th of the season.
James’ 30 points — the final two of which forced Snyder into that late timeout — gave him his 563rd 30-point game, one more than Michael Jordan for the most in NBA history.
“It’s someone I idolized in my childhood, and I wear 23 because of him,” James said of Jordan. “So, to know that I can sit here and be in the room or in the conversation or whatever it is, when you mention MJ, it’s just super-duper dope for me, being a kid from where I’m from.”
James, who starred without Anthony Davis against Portland, got Davis back on Friday. Davis scored 18 points and grabbed 19 rebounds, anchoring a terrific defensive performance.
Austin Reaves scored 20 to go with seven rebounds and six assists, and Rui Hachimura and Dalton Knecht each added 13. Dorian Finney-Smith also hit a pair of corner threes on his way to eight points off the bench.
The win, the Lakers’ seventh in their last nine games, was one of the team’s better all-around performances outside of 19 turnovers against Atlanta’s aggressive perimeter defense.
While Trae Young scored 33 points for Atlanta (18-17), Max Christie harassed him for most of the game. The Lakers (20-14) held Atlanta to just six-for-34 shooting from three while outrebounding Atlanta by 17.
After the game, coach JJ Redick didn’t start his media availability by praising the Lakers for their overall effort but by pointing out his frustrations with the defense, particularly Finney-Smith’s performance, in the first half.
On a night when James added another accomplishment to a career defined by greatness, Redick saw a chance to try to pull greatness from his roster.
“[Finney-Smith] had an awful first half. It was bad,” Redick said. “He was great in the second half. I told him that at halftime, he was awful. I don’t know where that came from — I played with him, watched him. Our game-plan discipline in the first half was so bad. It was so bad.”
Redick was aggravated with the Lakers’ transition defense and their coverages of Bogdan Bogdanovic in the halfcourt.
“I’m encouraged by our team in general. I think the message that I relayed to them at halftime is the reason why that stuff matters, the reason why executing a personnel-based scouting report that we talked about, is because I don’t want to coach a good team. I don’t want to be a part of a good team,” Redick said. “I want to be a part of a great team and I believe this team can be a great team. So it is about the small details.”
The Lakers will head to Texas for a pair of tough games. First, against Houston on Sunday and then against Dallas on Tuesday before returning to L.A. for their next eight games (seven at home and their first at the Intuit Dome).
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