On Monday night, the Crypto.com Arena court in Los Angeles was packed with action and tension as the Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies faced each other in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series. With both teams giving their all, bodies were flying around the court at breakneck speed, and every possession was fiercely contested as if it could be the last one of the season.
The game was so close that the customary 48 minutes were not enough to decide the winner. With 0.8 seconds left in regulation time, LeBron James sent the game into overtime with a driving layup after the Grizzlies’ Desmond Bane had put his team ahead with a layup with 6.7 seconds remaining.
In overtime, James once again took control, scoring a driving layup that sealed the deal and propelled the Lakers to a hard-earned 117-111 victory. His basket sent the sellout crowd of 18,997 into a frenzy. James finished with a team-leading 22 points, 20 rebounds, seven assists, and two blocked shots, becoming the first Laker with a 20-point, 20-rebound game in the playoffs since Shaquille O’Neal in 2004.
Game 5 is scheduled for Wednesday at FedEx Forum in Memphis, and Game 6, if necessary, will be on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.
James’s will to win was evident in his post-game comments when he said, “You just dig deep and understand that you’ll be able to sleep at some point – just not right now. This is not the time to rest or forget about an assignment. You’ll have more than enough time after the game and the next day to rest. So, I just try to dig deep.”
Although James’s performance was undoubtedly a standout, the Lakers’ victory was a team effort. Austin Reaves scored a team-leading 23 points, while Jarred Vanderbilt scored 10 of his 15 points in the first quarter. Anthony Davis had 12 points (five in OT), Dennis Schroder added 12 points and relentless defensive pressure on Ja Morant in a reserve role, and D’Angelo Russell’s three 3-pointers on three consecutive trips sent the Lakers into an all-too-brief 99-97 lead.
Bane led the Grizzlies with 36 points on 13-for-29 shooting, while Morant scored 19 points. Jaren Jackson Jr. had 14 points and 14 rebounds but was largely neutralized by Davis and his Lakers teammates when the game got tight late.
In the end, it was James who took over down the stretch, getting the Lakers a bucket to send the game into overtime and then delivering a driving layup that sealed the victory. The sellout crowd erupted into cheers, and James screamed and flexed, clearly overjoyed at the team’s hard-fought victory.
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