LeBron James, who scored 20 in the fourth quarter to help the Lakers erase an eight-point deficit against the Spurs, said he blocks out criticism and chatter. « I can care less about the narrative about me. It doesn’t matter, » he said.
LOS ANGELES — After a whirlwind week in Laker Land in which Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and even Kevin Durant weighed in publicly about how LeBron James should play, or in Durant’s case what it’s like to play with him, James capped the Los Angeles Lakers ‘ 4-0 homestand with 42 points in a 121-113 win over the San Antonio Spurs.
Kevin Durant thinks the Lakers might struggle to find a superstar to play alongside LeBron James and everything that comes with him.
Brandon Ingram was hurt when he landed on the foot of Spurs big man LaMarcus Aldridge. X-rays on Ingram’s ankle came back negative.
James scored 20 in the fourth quarter to help the Lakers erase an eight-point deficit with 8 minutes, 46 seconds remaining. Afterward, James was asked if his performance was fueled in anyway by all the talk surrounding him in recent days.
« No, for what? I’m past the [taking things] personal stage, » James said after his third game of 40-plus points this season. « I can do whatever. I can have a huge workload, I can have a not so huge workload…. It doesn’t matter for me. What’s most important is seeing my teammates make huge shots in the fourth quarter…. That’s what’s most important to me. I can care less about the narrative about me. It doesn’t matter. I’m a staple in this game. »
James reeled off 14 straight points for the Lakers to bring the score from 91-85 in favor of the Spurs to 99-97 in favor of the Lakers just four minutes later.
From there, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart combined to score the Lakers’ next 13 straight points before James added five more points in the final 1:13 — including a 29-foot stepback 3 — to salt the win away.
