The King Come Back: LeBron James Makes a Majestic Comeback, Scoring 40 Points to Lead Lakers’ Victory Over Thunder, Ending Their Losing Streak

LeBron James scored forty points, pulled down seven rebounds, and dished out seven assists to lead the Los Angeles Lakers over the Oklahoma City Thunder 129-120 on Saturday in Oklahoma City.

The Thunder’s three-game winning streak came to an end with the loss.

After losing four straight games, Lakers head coach Darvin Ham tried to reenergize his team by switching up the starting lineup for a “must-win” matchup against Anthony Davis and company.

D’Angelo Russell was put to the bench and Jarred Vanderbilt was started by Ham.

Since late in the 2020–21 season, Russell has not participated in a regular season game.

In Game 4 of the Lakers’ 2017 Western Conference Finals defeat to Denver, Russell did make his reserve debut.

Thanks to Ham’s calculated move, the Lakers scored 71 points in the first half and had a 12-point lead at the intermission.

Russell was particularly productive in the second quarter, starting it with eight straight Lakers baskets to give Los Angeles a 13-3 lead.

Russell scored 12 points in the quarter, making 4 of 5 field goals.

Los Angeles tried 63.6 percent from the field in the second quarter; Russell was by no means the only Laker to see a spike in performance.

Furthermore, James’s return to the starting lineup after being out due to ankle tendinitis on Thursday against Minnesota was advantageous.

In the third quarter, the Lakers’ offensive production kept getting better, scoring 36 more points to increase their advantage to 26.

Each James player and Davis player tallied ten points in the third.

However, the Oklahoma City Thunder persisted, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander accumulated 15 of the team’s 32 third-quarter points.

A layup by Chet Holmgren with less than six minutes remaining in the contest helped the Thunder reduce the deficit to eight and cap a 15-6 Oklahoma City run.

With eleven points in the following 3:30, James prevented the Thunder from gaining any closer.

With 26 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists, Davis helped the team win; in his place, Rui Hachimura scored 21 points.For the contest, the Lakers made 16 of 32 shots from beyond the arc.Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 34 points. While Holmgren scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, Jalen Williams scored 28 points.