![\"LeBron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2273004795_d80c95-e1777221855469.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
LeBron James focused during Lakers playoff game amid increased scoring role<\/p>\n
Veteran Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> forward LeBron James looked like he was out of gas in the closing stages of his team\u2019s 99-93 Game 5 loss to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.<\/p>\n With Game 6 scheduled in less than 48 hours, followed by a possible Game 7 on Sunday, should the Lakers possibly make the drastic call of resting James on Friday?<\/p>\n Hall of Famer Charles Barkley sounded the alarm bells about the 41-year-old James playing through a lot of fatigue after Wednesday\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n \u201cLeBron is wearing down,\u201d Barkley told \u201cInside the NBA\u201d on ESPN.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI saw all these idiots and fools on television say, \u2018Man, LeBron is playing great for a 41-year-old.\u2019 Let me tell you, he played great in Games 1 and 2.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you get older, the longer the series goes, his efficiency is coming down,\u201d Barkley said of James.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what that\u2019s doing is, it\u2019s affecting Luke Kennard and Marcus Smart \u2014 because they\u2019re not getting wide open shots anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n LeBron James Struggles With Efficiency<\/p>\n Further to Barkley\u2019s point, James has shot 41% from the field and 22% from three over his last three games, while committing an alarming 6.0 turnovers per game.<\/a> He shot 49% from the field and 43% from three in the first two wins with a +8.5 net rating.<\/p>\n James\u2019 struggles have not boded well for his teammates, as Barkley noted.\u00a0 Kennard and Smart, who were key to the Lakers taking a 3-0 series lead, have struggled over the last two games. In the first two games, they averaged a combined 45.0 points, 10.0 assists and 7.0 made threes at a really efficient clip. Over the last two losses<\/a>, those numbers have shrunk to a combined 20.1 points, 9.0 assists and 2.1 made threes.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir numbers are coming down, too,\u201d Barkley said of Kennard and Smart.<\/p>\n Should Lakers Tank Game 6?<\/p>\n Should the Lakers make the bold call of resting James in Game 6? Doing so would ensure James gets three days of rest before an inevitable Game 7 on Sunday.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth highlighting that James has performed better with more rest<\/a> in the ongoing playoffs. He has tallied 27.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.7 assists with two or more days of rest and only 10.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 9.0 assists with a day\u2019s rest (Game 4).<\/p>\n JJ Redick\u2019s team will have to expend too much energy to try and close out the Rockets on Saturday, only to return home for a gruelling Game 7 48 hours later.<\/p>\n The Rockets also have the advantage of youth, and they know it. After staving off elimination on Wednesday, All-Star big man Alperen Sengun said \u201cnobody is tired\u201d on his team, as he appeared to mock the aging Lakers.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody is feeling amazing,\u201d Sengun said.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNobody is tired. Today everybody showed it. Now, we go out in front of our family and friends [in Game 6], take care of business and come back here for Game 7.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lakers are in their current predicament due to the injuries to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves \u2014 their two leading scorers in the regular season. While Reaves returned from an oblique injury in Game 5, Doncic has been ruled out for the rest of the series.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty LeBron James focused during Lakers playoff game amid increased scoring role Veteran Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-418287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}