LeBron, ultimate ‘Swiss Army knife’, carries Lakers to West’s No. 8 seed

LeBron James, the ultimate ‘Swiss Army knife’, carries Lakers to West’s No. 8 seed https://t.co/RfYw443rix

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) April 15, 2024

Austin Reaves looked up at the in-arena box score jumbotron and did a double take.

At the seven-minute mark of the second quarter, LeBron James already had 11 assists.

“What the hell is going on?” Reaves thought to himself when he saw the number. “They might have a typo up there.”

Except it wasn’t an error — James had eight assists in the first seven minutes of the game and a career-high 13 assists in the first half. Behind James’ fifth triple-double of the season — 28 points, 11 rebounds and a season-high 17 assists while adding five steals — the Lakers beat the New Orleans Pelicans in their regular-season finale to secure the No. 8 seed in the Play-In Tournament and finish the season 47-35.

Los Angeles will remain in New Orleans for a rematch with the Pelicans for the No. 7 seed on Tuesday. The winner will play the defending champion No. 2 Denver Nuggets. The loser will host the winner of the game between the No. 9 Sacramento Kings and No. 10 Golden State Warriors, with the winner of that game facing the No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder.

“It was a good test for us,” James said of the win. “A good regular season for us, even throughout everything that’s gone on throughout this whole season. For us to end the season 12 games over .500 — 13 if you count the championship in the In-Season Tournament — I mean, with everything we’ve been through, that’s a pretty good season for us.”

The signs of a locked-in Lakers squad were present in the locker room before the game. There was little interaction between players. Everyone was either listening to their music with headphones on, watching film on laptops or iPads or vibing to the old-school Lil Wayne playlist blaring through the speakers.

Head coach Darvin Ham said he noticed a renewed sense of focus on Saturday when the team gathered to rewatch the film of its 123-120 win over a Memphis Grizzlies team that was missing 13 roster players. The group was disappointed with the effort, including numerous careless turnovers and halfhearted defensive rotations. The Lakers felt a sense of urgency with seeding on the line.

“We wanted to come out early and set a tone defensively,” Ham said of the team’s mindset coming off the Grizzlies nailbiter. “And also set a tone offensively by not settling.”

James applied the pregame messaging early. He relentlessly pushed the ball, hunting mismatches and openings out of pick-and-rolls while surgically dissecting the Pelicans’ sixth-ranked defense. Lasers, lobs, touch passes, bounce passes — James’ full passing arsenal was on display. Each member of New Orleans’ army of wing defenders was too small and slender to handle James’ force, physicality and savvy.

He helped spark noteworthy performances from Anthony Davis (30 points on 13-for-17 shooting, 11 rebounds), Reaves (20 points), D’Angelo Russell (19 points, five 3s) and Rui Hachimura (11 points, 7 rebounds), as the Lakers leaned more into their starting five with the playoffs potentially less than a week away.

“I just read the game and I was just finding my teammates and I just tried to put the ball on time and on target for either jump shots or guys at the rim,” James said. “I just tried to be very efficient with my play.”

On defense, James took on the challenge of defending Zion Williamson, who had been playing some of the best basketball of his career. James helped hold Williamson to 12 points on 4-for-13 shooting, absorbing Williamson’s blows on drives and funneling him to Davis. James also dared Williamson to shoot from the perimeter, goading him into a 3-pointer and a few jumpers.

James’ defensive effort has understandably waned during his 21st season. He’s logged more minutes than any other player in NBA history, is still nursing an ankle injury and is carrying a significant offensive workload. Still, he said after the game that he’s committed to ramping up his defensive responsibilities if that’s what a matchup requires — a notable development considering the Lakers are still without frontcourt defensive ace Jarred Vanderbilt, who remains out with an injured foot with no timetable to return.

“I just want to win, so whatever the game presents itself for me to be, if it needs me to be more attacking and scoring range, or if it needs me to be more of a set-up guy, if it needs me to be more of a defender, I got to do it all,” James said. “I am a Swiss Army knife, so I got to do it all on the floor and none of it’s predetermined.”