{"id":260621,"date":"2026-04-10T05:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T05:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/260621\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T05:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T05:34:11","slug":"lebron-james-powers-shorthanded-lakers-to-win-over-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/260621\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James powers shorthanded Lakers to win over Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Fans from New Zealand and Australia held signs toward the camera. They had traveled thousands of miles to watch Warriors star Stephen Curry<\/a> play.<\/p>\n

One sign crossed out \u201cplay\u201d and replaced it with a frowning face.<\/p>\n

They were instead treated to a steady performance from LeBron James,<\/a> who led the Lakers<\/a> to a 119-103 win<\/a> over the Warriors on Thursday, with 26 points and 11 rebounds. The Lakers kept pace with the Houston Rockets in a tight race for the No. 4 seed in the West.<\/a><\/p>\n

Battling a chronic knee injury in the latter stages of the season, Curry watched from the sideline. His absence in the Warriors\u2019 last home game of the season also put a damper on what could have been another enthralling matchup between two of the league\u2019s biggest stars.<\/p>\n

Between the artistry of Curry and the physicality of James, they\u2019ve been faces of the NBA, Lakers coach JJ Redick<\/a> said. But with the 41-year-old James not under contract after this season, the generational stars may never compete on an NBA court against each other again. Redick called the idea \u201cdark.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been fun to watch as a fan,\u201d Redick said of the rivalry between Curry and James, \u201cand it\u2019s been fun to be a part of it the last couple years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curry greeted James before the game. Now a sneaker free agent after his high-profile departure from longtime sponsor Under Armour, Curry honored his contemporary with a blue and yellow version of the LeBron X iD sneakers.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers star LeBron James shoots during a win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.<\/p>\n

(David M. Barreda \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Trying to avoid their longest losing streak of the season, the Lakers (51-29) relied on James to steady the ship. After the Lakers gave up a 9-0 run to start the second quarter, he hit a contested three out of a timeout to get the team back on track. He fed the ball to Deandre Ayton, keeping the big man engaged for 21 points on nine-of-11 shooting with five rebounds.<\/p>\n

Losing James before Tuesday\u2019s game against the Thunder<\/a> added to an emotional week for the Lakers. They lost Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves in the same game in a blowout loss in Oklahoma City last week and had to face the Thunder again without James. Jaxson Hayes was a late scratch Tuesday and remains day-to-day after missing Thursday\u2019s game as well.<\/p>\n

Redick admitted the Lakers were not prepared to compete against the Thunder at home Tuesday. He recognized trying to inject some energy into his team by calling early timeouts and subbing out veterans such as Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt perhaps didn\u2019t help, especially after a heated exchange with Vanderbilt was caught on camera.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I told the team today \u2014 I think this is important \u2014 is we have had a very disjointed season because of all the injuries and throughout the year, we, collectively, staff, players, we\u2019ve had to figure out the best path forward with whatever group is available,\u201d Redick said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s no different right now. We have to figure out over these next three games and over next week, the best path for this team to play winning basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the emotional ups-and-downs, Redick checks in with Reaves and Doncic daily. Doncic, currently in Spain receiving treatment on his injured hamstring, is in \u201crelatively \u2014 relatively good spirits,\u201d Redick said. Doncic is \u201cattacking\u201d his rehab, Redick said, but being away from the team has taken a toll on his psyche. Reaves, who is out with a Grade 2 left oblique strain that is expected to take four to six weeks to heal, has benefited from staying with the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for both of those guys, there is, like, a carrot,\u201d Redick said. \u201cIf we can get this season extended, they can come back and they can play. Those guys love playing basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers lost the No. 3 seed, and are fighting to maintain home-court advantage over Houston, which won its eighth straight game Thursday. Both teams have two games remaining and the Lakers have the head-to-head tiebreaker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Fans from New Zealand and Australia held signs toward the camera. They had traveled thousands of miles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[19538,51810,423,114725,35682,48,52,51,1415,114724,47,50,49,7551,7556,1414,278,427,31143,2429,14920],"class_list":{"0":"post-260621","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-curry","10":"tag-game","11":"tag-important-win","12":"tag-james","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-la-headlines","15":"tag-la-news","16":"tag-lakers","17":"tag-lebron-james-power","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","20":"tag-los-angeles-news","21":"tag-luka-doncic","22":"tag-rebound","23":"tag-redick","24":"tag-season","25":"tag-team","26":"tag-thunder","27":"tag-thursday","28":"tag-warrior"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}