JJ Redick played against LeBron James numerous times throughout his career. Despite one being the other’s coach now, their playing careers overlapped from Redick’s arrival in the NBA in 2006 until his retirement in 2021. But even Redick seemed a little blown away by 39-year-old James’ performance in a comeback win over the Sacramento Kings last night.
The Kings entered the fourth quarter with a 7-point lead, but James nearly single-handedly erased that advantage within minutes amid an 11-point streak for James, who ended up scoring half of his game-high 32 points in the final period. James, who ended up with a 32-point, 14-rebound, 10-assist triple-double led the Lakers to a 131-127 victory, the team’s third in a row to begin the new NBA season.
After the game, Redick spoke on James’ white-hot start to the fourth quarter and how it helped the team overcome a deficit.
“Just to get that performance to start the fourth from LeBron, I mean, what can you say?” Redick said during the post-game press conference. “We’ve all been very fortunate to watch his greatness for so long, and the fact that he’s able to keep doing it, it’s just — it’s actually insane. It’s actually insane.”
Redick, in his first year as the Lakers head coach, is overseeing a remarkable start to the 2024-25 NBA season. Before this year, the team had not started 3-0 — or even 2-0 — since 2010 when the Lakers were coming off two consecutive championships.
Related Los Angeles Lakers NewsArticle continues below
While the expectations are not that high for the Lakers, they will continue to rise if the team can continue to win. While James, the oldest player in the league, emerged the hero against the Kings, through the first three games, Anthony Davis has looked like an MVP candidate. Davis has scored 30 or more points in each game to start the year, which makes him the first Lakers player to do so since Kobe Bryant in 2005 when he won the scoring title with 35.4 points per game.
To continue their win streak, the Lakers will need to beat Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and the Phoenix Suns again. In their first meeting on Friday, Los Angeles won 123-116.
The teams will play again in Phoenix on Sunday. Tipoff is set for approximately 7 p.m. PT.