The Los Angeles Lakers escaped with a 119-117 win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena, capped by a goofy final sequence in which LeBron James turned a potentially crippling turnover into a game-winning dunk in the span of seconds.

Before that, LeBron took flight to put the Lakers up by two with 27.3 seconds remaining.

After two Bradley Beal free throws, the Lakers had a chance to close the game out.

LeBron tried passing out of an aggressive double-team from Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis but momentarily lost possession of the ball. As multiple Wizards started heading in the other direction, LeBron wrestled the ball back from his former teammate and found Bryant underneath.

It was, as Spectrum's Bill Macdonald's labeled it, “A garbage play!”

Kuzma missed a running 3-pointer and the Lakers survived.

“Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good,” LeBron admitted. “I made the right read. I was just a little off on my pass. It kinda hit Kuz's shin. I just couldn't let that ball get away from me — that turnover at that point in time. (I was) able to hustle for it and still keep my eyes up on T.B. and get the dunk to win the game.”

LeBron couldn't let the ball get away. The Lakers — on the heels of Anthony Davis' worrisome injury and facing a daunting upcoming schedule — couldn't let this game get away. Not against a Wizards team on a nine-game losing skid.

“I said it in the huddle,” LeBron continued, “I said, ‘They're going to trap me, so make yourselves available.' … They did exactly what I thought. I gotta do a better job of pinpointing that pass, but I was able to recover.”

LeBron applauded the Lakers' defense — namely, rookie Max Christie, who played crunch time (over Russell Westbrook) — for preventing Bradley Beal from getting free. At that point, he knew his former teammate (who has planted seeds for a Lakers return and warmed up in a purple durag) wanted to make a statement back in Los Angeles.

“Kuz had his hand up the whole time, I knew he was going for the win,” said LeBron, who finished with 33 points (13-of-24 shooting), seven rebounds, and nine assists in 37 minutes.

“We knew they were gonna hit off someone, come double LeBron, and just wanted to be ready, get someone in the middle of the floor,” recalled Darvin Ham before reiterating one of his many mantras. “Again, those three magical words we talk about: competitiveness, togetherness, and accountability. That was a competitive-a** play for Bron to regather, get that ball … find Thomas underneath the basket. It was huge.”

Bryant stepped up for the second straight game in AD's absence. After dropping 21 points on Nikola Jokic and earning Game Ball honors on Friday — which Ham cracked was a “one-time thing” — the center rebounded from a rough first half and finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.