{"id":624145,"date":"2026-04-22T19:18:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624145\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:18:20","slug":"lakers-are-slowly-re-learning-lebron-james-title-formula-that-escaped-them-for-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/624145\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers are slowly re-learning LeBron James title formula that escaped them for years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets 101-94 in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series by using the formula that has won around LeBron James for years. All King James needs is shooting and defense flanking him. The GOAT will do the rest, and it has been proven true in the series. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">LeBron didn\u2019t have his best game on Tuesday night. He finished with 28 points, seven assists, eight rebounds, and one steal in 39 minutes of action. James made just eight of his 20 field goals and missed four free throws, but it didn\u2019t matter. The Lakers shot 46 percent from 3-point range and held Houston to 94 points to grab the win. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5z\">The Cavaliers went to the NBA Finals in 2007 with shooting and defense around LeBron. The GOAT has won four championships, including a 2020 ring with the Lakers. All of those successful teams have put shooting and defense around King James. LeBron <a href=\"https:\/\/lakeshowlife.com\/lakers-logistics-changed-lebron-postseason-reality-remains-same\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">raises his team\u2019s ceiling<\/a>, and the formula has Los Angeles up 2-0 on the Rockets. <\/p>\n<p>Lakers are slowly re-learning the winning formula around LeBron James<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"65\">This team wasn\u2019t supposed to be built around LeBron James. The Lakers have Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. LBJ was brought in as the third option before the other two stars went down late in the season. Reaves is slowly <a href=\"https:\/\/lakeshowlife.com\/jj-redick-unsurprising-austin-reaves-update-gives-lakers-fans-sliver-of-hope\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">making progress toward a return<\/a>, but there is no guarantee either player is back in this series. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">LA needs LeBron to get them to the second round. That means dusting off the vintage formula to win. The Lakers haven\u2019t used it since the 2020 title team. They traded for Russell Westbrook the following year and have struggled to find 3-and-D options. Now, head coach JJ Redick is slowly embracing the old formula, and it has Los Angeles surprisingly up two games to none. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6b\">LeBron is turning back the clock. The 41-year-old shouldn\u2019t be able to do what he is doing. He had 19 points and 13 dimes in Game 1. James was attacking the basket in Game 2 and did something he hadn\u2019t done in months. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">First time LeBron James has had double-digit FT attempts in a game since January and just the fifth time he&#8217;s done so all season.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dave McMenamin (@mcten) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mcten\/status\/2046810193833668788?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 22, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">The Lakers held the Rockets to 98 points in the series opener. Even with Kevin Durant back, Houston scored just 17 in the third quarter on Tuesday night on their way to finishing with 94. The defense has been outstanding and significantly better than the sum of its parts. That is exactly what they need without Luka and AR. Credit to coach Redick because he is making it work. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6k\">The Los Angeles Lakers are fully embracing their 2020 championship formula with the 2026 team. They are putting shooting and defense around LeBron James, and it has them up 2-0 in a first-round playoff series everybody thought they\u2019d lose without their two best players. The role players are knocking down shots, and James is running the offense at an elite level at 41 years old.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6n\">Lakers fans should be hyped. They\u2019ve seen this formula win a ring. Now, it just has to be good enough to defeat the Rockets, so the purple and gold can get Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves back. So far, it is coming up aces.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow lakeshowlife.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=lakeshowlife.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Houston Rockets 101-94 in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series by&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-624145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}