LeBron James hasn't been a Laker for long, but he just did something only Los Angeles Lakers legend Shaquille O'Neal has ever done in his team's Game 2 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
The NBA's recently-crowned all-time leading scorer tied ‘The Diesel' with 88 playoff games of 25 points and 10 rebounds or more, according to ESPN Stats & Info. James scored 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in 39 minutes against the Grizzlies, but Memphis took a 103-93 victory to knot up the series at one game apiece.
It was a night of ups and downs for the Lakers as the team struggled mightily at times in the face of the Grizzlies' suffocating defense. Anthony Davis scored 13 points and added eight rebounds, while Game 1 hero Austin Reaves scored 12 points and five rebounds. Rui Hachimura added 20 points for the Lake Show, but it wasn't enough to knock off the Grizzlies.
In another ode to the O'Neal days, James added three blocks to his stat sheet-stuffing performance, while his frontcourt mate Anthony Davis tallied seven blocks.
It was a disjointed performance for the Lakers, as the team struggled out of the gate en route to a 30-19 first quarter deficit. A visibly frustrated James took the liberty of drawing up a play for himself during a timeout that worked to perfection.
LeBron James, Davis, Rui Hachimura, Austin Reaves and the Lakers played the Grizzlies mostly even on the stat sheet, however, and figure to have the edge heading into Saturday, April 22's Game 3 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
LeBron also added a chase-down block in the second quarter against Luke Kennard, suggesting that he still has plenty of gas left in the tank heading into Saturday's pivotal matchup.
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