LeBron James blazed his way into the season by giving up shots to Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves, adhering to JJ Redick’s style and letting his teammates settle in the first handful of games of his 21st season .
Maybe it was his respect for a new trial. Perhaps it was a sign that time, the opponent he had never lost to, was going to claim his final victory.
Or maybe it was all a mirage, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and one of its greatest players still lurking, waiting for the moment to strike.
On Wednesday, James did everything he could to lead the Lakers to a 128-123 victory over Memphis.
When the attack went cold, he scored. When the ball bounced off the rim, he stopped it. And when a teammate shook himself open, he found him.
James scored 35 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had 14 assists – his third straight triple-double – all leading to wins for the Lakers at their home arena.
It’s the fourth time in his career with back-to-back-to-back triple-doubles. Of the 11 oldest players to ever have a game with a triple-double, James has 10.
Wednesday’s heroics came as the Lakers had blown an early 15-point lead while their leading scorer, Anthony Davis, was hampered by foul trouble and largely ineffective.
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Through it all, James was great, keeping the Lakers involved and in the game even when it was shaky.
The Lakers, who had two days off to prepare for the Grizzlies, attacked Memphis early and played like a team looking to get one back after last week’s loss at Tennessee.
The ball popped from one end to the other, with the Lakers creating open threes through crisp passes, powerful cuts and colliding screens.
They corrected many of their defensive issues, sprinted back in transition and cleared Memphis, fog off the glass.
And then it stopped.
Everything the Lakers did right in the opening minutes on Wednesday quickly changed as the team’s energy evaporated and their intentions gave way to bad habits.
Despite the Grizzlies being without starting backcourt Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, Memphis cooked the Lakers’ defense in a way that made strong performances in their last two games look like anomalies.
Led by Jar Jackson Jr., the only healthy member of the Grizzlies’ big three, Memphis outscored the Lakers 70-53 in the second and third quarters, while the Lakers did little other than half-heartedly swipe for the ball and commit lazy offenses. .
But the Lakers held on, thanks to James, Rui Hachimura and rookie Dalton Knecht, who scored a career-high 19 points while making all five of his 3-point shots.
Knecht and Hachimura combined to shoot 13 of 15 from the field for 38 points.
And after Davis returned to the game with five fouls midway through the fourth, he hit a pair of three-point shots to push the Lakers through the tape to their sixth straight win at home to start the season.
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It is their best start to a year in their building since 2010. In the 1988/89 season, the Lakers started the year with seventeen consecutive victories at home.
The Lakers start group play in the NBA Cup against the Spurs on Friday in San Antonio.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
