LeBron James won the second game of the NBA’s re-opening doubleheader for the LA Lakers by rebounding his own miss and putting in the go-ahead basket with 12.8 seconds remaining.
James, who had 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists to beat the Clippers and help the Lakers move 6 1/2 games ahead of their crosstown rivals in the Western Conference, then helped shut down Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on the contest’s final defensive possession.
LeBron James aka King James Game Winner. #LakeShow x #ClipperNation#WholeNewGame pic.twitter.com/v3aYq58euJ
— GoodNightHarlem🎙 (@GoodNightHarlem) July 31, 2020
This crunch time defense by LeBron James is immaculate 🤩pic.twitter.com/rHFaIKU5bV
— 𝐻𝒶𝓃𝒶 🏀🌙 (@HanasGoat) July 31, 2020
After the buzzer sounded, James was called upon to do the post-game interview from the court. James, who knelt with his teammates and locked arms during the National Anthem to protest systemic racism, shouted out former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick during the chat.
The @Lakers and @LAClippers kneel during the National Anthem. pic.twitter.com/A0OdsXNKm3
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) July 31, 2020
“I hope we made Kap proud. I hope we continue to make Kap proud every single day. I hope I make him proud with how I live my life, not only on the basketball floor but off the floor,” James said after the win. “I’ve been one to always speak out about things that I feel like is unjust. If I’m educated on things, I always go about it that way. So Kap was someone who stood up when times weren’t comfortable, and people didn’t understand or refused to listen to what he was saying.”
In the other game that kicked off the season’s restart, the Utah Jazz eked out a 106-104 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans. Rudy Gobert, the player whose positive COVID-19 test shut down the NBA in March, sank two free throws with 6.9 seconds left to cap a 14-point, 12-rebound and three-block performance in the win.
Rudy Gobert has the first bucket for the NBA restart pic.twitter.com/MIQULizyTG
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 30, 2020
In an ironic bit of symmetry, Gobert also scored the first bucket of the NBA’s restart.
The resumed NBA season continues today with six more games from the league’s bubble in Orlando.
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