NBA world explodes after LeBron James goes off in epic Lakers win vs. Clippers

Even in his 21st NBA season and at age 38, LeBron James is still a force to be reckoned with.

He led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 130-125 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in overtime on Wednesday with 35 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots, and social media was in awe of his dominant outing.

The Lakers had gone more than three years without a victory versus the Clippers, and they started out this contest in the type of manner that suggested they were about to go down in a blowout loss. They trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half, and they weren’t able to mount much, if any, resistance defensively, as the Clippers were able to get just about whatever they wanted.

But that deficit started to diminish in the third quarter as the Lakers finally clicked defensively. Stops and defensive rebounds started coming in bunches, and they managed to take an 87-85 lead at the end of the fourth quarter. After the Lakers led by eight inside of two minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Clippers responded to force overtime, adding extra intrigue to this contest.

But James didn’t slow down in the extra period, and Austin Reaves perked up late on both ends of the floor to help ensure victory. Even though James was the man on the night, he still gave Reaves lots of love right after the game ended.

In all, James shot 13-of-19 from the field and 4-of-8 on 3-pointers, and despite playing 42 minutes, he didn’t falter down the stretch from fatigue. His minutes and workload have been a storyline this season, but it is starting to look like the team will play him as many minutes as needed in crunch time in order to win.

In particular, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer has arguably played his best ball late in games to start the season, which is a very good sign for the Lakers. He may not win the MVP award this season, but on any given night, he can still be the best player on the court when he needs to be.