HOUSTON — Skin torn off the top of LeBron James’ knee, the Lakers star sharing a photo to Instagram on Monday morning, is somehow a representative image of how the team hustled its way to a five-game winning streak.
“Might be it for diving for the year,” James posted, with an eye-squinting emoji – a painful expression. “Ouch!! LOL!”
The bumps and bruises are turning into wins – even if they hurt, even if Lakers coach JJ Redick said James didn’t feel all that well Saturday.
James was willing to do it all in the name of victory with his Superman-like dive to save a loose ball during Saturday night’s overtime triumph against the Denver Nuggets. Since returning to the court after a three-game absence on Thursday, James has filled his role to a T, one that has regressed production-wise with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves fully healthy and available. For Redick, the play from James was a true show of leadership; being willing to take the lead and make winning plays without being asked to do so.
“I do know that he is a winner and competitor and I think it’s a great example of leadership,” Redick said. “I talked a lot about this last year. Leadership is not just the voice who’s talking. Leadership is then what you do on the court.”
Doncic, who hit the buzzer-beating game-winner to secure the Lakers’ fifth consecutive win, said as such after the game on Saturday.
“Him doing it (diving for the ball), caring for for winning was unbelievable,” said Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer at 32.8 points per game. “And just amazing to see.”
When asked to define what James’ role is on the team, ahead of the final 15 games of the regular season, Redick said it’s still about finding the groove between James, Doncic and Reaves. But James, when it comes to scoring, is third on the totem pole. In the 13 games since the All-Star Game, Doncic has averaged 32.7 points, Reaves has averaged 21.1 and James (who has played in 10 of the games) has averaged 18.7.
“He’s still going to be, and still has been, a high-usage player relative to your average player,” Redick said of James. “The best thing for our team is being the third-highest-used player, you know, and obviously there’s been stretches of the year where he’s had to do more with injuries or guys being out of lineup.
“And I think finding a rhythm and a groove within, you know, the rotations and lineups when those three guys play, and I think that’s been the challenge for all of them, not just LeBron, all season.”
KLEBER DOESN’T TRAVEL TO HOUSTON
Redick said before the Lakers played the Rockets on Monday night in Houston that backup big man Maxi Kleber has been “shut down” for the last five days and did not travel with the team to begin the trip.
“He’s basically been shut down for five days to sort of heal,” Redick said. “He’s not with us right now, and we hope he’s able to join us later on in the trip.”
Kleber is dealing with a lumbar back strain stemming from the aftermath of his six-point performance in the Lakers’ victory over the Sacramento Kings on March 1 and has dealt with back-related ailments since joining the team via trade last season.
HONOR ROLL
Doncic was named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week for the games played Monday, March 9, through Sunday. It’s his third weekly honor of the season and the 18th of his career.
In a perfect 3-0 week with victories over Minnesota, Chicago and Denver, Doncic averaged 37.3 points on 46.9% shooting from the field, 42.5% from 3-point range and 79.2% from the free-throw line, along with 10.7 rebounds, 11.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.7 blocked shots in 38.3 minutes. He had two triple-doubles and one double-double over the three-game stretch and produced his first 50-point performance as a member of the Lakers.
Doncic opened with a 31-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist triple-double in a win over the Timberwolves. Two nights later, he scored his Lakers career-high 51 points with nine 3-pointers along with 10 rebounds and nine assists against the Bulls.
He closed the week with a 30-point, 11-rebound, 13-assist triple-double in the overtime win against the Nuggets, capping his night with a game-winning jumper with 0.5 seconds remaining.