{"id":296628,"date":"2026-05-02T13:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T13:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296628\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T13:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T13:55:11","slug":"crisis-averted-goat-activated-lebron-james-to-the-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/296628\/","title":{"rendered":"Crisis averted, GOAT activated, LeBron James to the rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whew. Sigh. LeBron<\/a>!<\/p>\n

History eluded. Embarrassment avoided. Belief restored.<\/p>\n

The most secure legacy played with the most desperation. The most creaky veteran played with the most aggression. The winningest superstar played like he had everything to lose.<\/p>\n

Wow. Gasp. LeBron!<\/p>\n

So it went at Houston\u2019s Toyota Center on Friday night when the Lakers<\/a>, just two losses from becoming the first team in NBA history to blow a three-games-to-none lead, blew away the Rockets 98-78<\/a> to win their first-round series four games to two.<\/p>\n

It was a night that prevented possibly the greatest meltdown in NBA history. It was a night that celebrated possibly the greatest player in NBA history.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarted with LeBron,\u201d said Marcus Smart<\/a>. \u201cThe OG came out.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the shorthanded Lakers needed him most, their ageless 41-year wonder indeed showed up huge, LeBron James fighting down the lane, throwing in from deep, finding teammates like the sizzling Rui Hachimura<\/a> and the surging Austin Reaves<\/a>, leading with his entire massive being.<\/p>\n

James wasn\u2019t going to be on the wrong side of history. He wasn\u2019t going to further stain his sterling 42-13 close-out record. He wasn\u2019t going to let his final season end so early.<\/p>\n

Wait a minute, this is not his final season? Not a chance. Bury any lingering doubt. After watching him dominate the youngest starting five in these playoffs Friday, it is impossible to imagine he\u2019s going to call it quits.<\/p>\n

He scored a game-high 28 points while enduring a team-high 37 minutes. He had eight assists, seven rebounds and only three turnovers. He even played defense, as the Lakers were a game-best plus-26 when he was on the court.<\/p>\n

His night ended with him appropriately surrounded in the locker room by teammates who were bleating like goats. Because he\u2019s the, well, you know.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers forward LeBron James shoots over Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. during the first half of Game 6.<\/p>\n

(Ashley Landis \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt speaks to his greatness,\u201d said Lakers coach JJ Redick<\/a>, and, yeah, somebody must be great if they can induce grown men to imitate farm animals. \u201cTo me he\u2019s had the greatest career of any NBA player \u2026 for him to do it again and answer the bell again, it\u2019s \u2026 baffling in some ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the frying pan to the fire, the Lakers now travel to Oklahoma City to face the defending champion Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals beginning Tuesday.<\/p>\n

This could get real ugly, real quick.<\/p>\n

The Lakers won\u2019t have injured leading scorer Luka Doncic<\/a> for the foreseeable future. They will be playing a Thunder team that drubbed them in the regular season, including a 43-point stomping just last month.<\/p>\n

The Lakers don\u2019t stand a chance. They\u2019ll be lucky to avoid a sweep. They should quit while they\u2019re ahead.<\/p>\n

Which is exactly what everyone said about them before this Rockets series, before they took advantage of a Kevin Durant injury and Reaves\u2019 return from injury, before they revealed a sense of focus and connection completely unexpected from this disjointed group.<\/p>\n

Before James decided he wouldn\u2019t let them lose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had some obstacles obviously and I know they were without guys as well, but I thought we answered the call,\u201d said James. \u201cI thought we answered the challenge and for them to allow me to lead them, that means a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truly, lost in all the criticism over the last two Lakers losses was the truth the Lakers never should have been in this position in the first place.<\/p>\n

Consider this near miss one of James\u2019 greatest postseason achievements. Consider this first career playoff series win a huge endorsement for Redick as a Lakers coach. Consider any positivity that comes from the Oklahoma City series as pure gravy.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers forward LeBron James scores on an uncontested layup after blowing past the Rockets defense during the first half of Game 6.<\/p>\n

(Ashley Landis \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us to be written off a few weeks ago and to win a playoff series is a big deal,\u201d said Redick. \u201cAnd it speaks to the character of our team and the leaders of our team that they didn\u2019t let go of the rope.\u201d<\/p>\n

James led the Lakers to a five-point lead in the first quarter, then absolutely dominated with a 14-point second quarter in which he outscored the entire Rockets team and gave the Lakers an 18-point halftime lead that was never challenged.<\/p>\n

See if you can follow along \u2026<\/p>\n

James hits a fallaway. Jake LaRavia races down for a layup. Smart draws a charge. James hits a three. James hits a spinning layup. LaRavia connects on a fastbreak jam. James sinks another layup.<\/p>\n

For those breathlessly keeping score, the Lakers began that second quarter with a 9-0 run that, dating back to the first quarter, was an incredible 21-2 smackdown. At one point the Rockets missed a dozen straight shots. At another point they were 0-for-15 shooting in the quarter.<\/p>\n

The Rockets momentarily stopped the bleeding with six consecutive points late in the quarter, but on James\u2019 last-minute trey, the Lakers finished the quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 49-31 halftime lead.<\/p>\n

\u201dHe just has this ability to set the tone for the entire group,\u201d said Redick. \u201cHe did that again tonight and the guys responded.\u201d<\/p>\n

James scored on a jump shot just seconds into the third quarter and the route continued. Houston, which only made six baskets in the quarter, mounted a bit of a surge late in the quarter, but Smart ended any momentum by drawing his third charge of the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love charges,\u201d said Smart. \u201cThey\u2019re demoralizing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Redick angrily called a timeout with 6:28 remaining in the game after a defensive lapse with the Lakers leading by 19. James fittingly scored on a layup immediately after the timeout and the game was formally finished.<\/p>\n

The Lakers defense was astounding, holding the Rockets to 13 points below their season low. The Lakers rebounding was astonishing, nearly doubling the offensive rebounds of the NBA\u2019s best offensive rebounding team.<\/p>\n

The Lakers offensive collective was also cool, Hachimura hitting five of seven treys, Reaves scoring 15 points with three blocked shots, and Deandre Ayton finishing a fine series with 16 rebounds.<\/p>\n

But this was about the OG, who noted that he is finally comfortable celebrating small victories and said, \u201cI think we should be proud of the way we handled this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way he handled this.<\/p>\n

Bleat \u2026 bleat \u2026 bleat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whew. Sigh. LeBron! History eluded. Embarrassment avoided. Belief restored. The most secure legacy played with the most desperation.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[20675,19538,123150,47781,217,18123,423,124246,7006,349,48,52,51,1415,5814,47,50,49,2699,430,124247],"class_list":["post-296628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-april","tag-austin-reaves","tag-best-of-seven-series","tag-blowout-win","tag-day","tag-doncic","tag-game","tag-game-time-decision-wednesday","tag-houston-rockets","tag-injury","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lakers","tag-lead","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-return","tag-week","tag-western-conference-semifinal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296628","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=296628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}