LeBron James stats: Lakers star leads largest comeback of his career with fourth quarter explosion vs. Clippers

LeBron James stats: Lakers star leads largest comeback of his career with fourth quarter explosion vs. Clippers

The Lakers entered the fourth quarter of their cross-town matchup with the Clippers staring defeat straight in the face.

The Lakers trailed by 19 points going into the final frame and were struggling to break through a Clippers defense that had limited them to just 77 points through three quarters. But as he so often does, LeBron James took over the game.

The 39-year-old exploded in the fourth quarter, nailing five 3-pointers, logging four assists and leading the Lakers to the largest fourth-quarter comeback of his 21-year NBA career in a 116-112 victory.

James himself outscored the Clippers 19-16 during the fourth quarter and attempted to explain his red-hot outburst after the game.

“It’s just a zone, and you can’t really describe it,” James said of his performance, per ESPN. “You wish you could stay in it forever, but obviously it checks out once the game ends. But during it, you don’t feel anything. It’s just like a superpower feel.”

Indeed, James looked invincible during the Lakers’ run and the victory improved the team to 32-28 on the season. That win could prove important as the ninth-seeded Lakers attempt to make a run at a top-six seed to avoid the NBA’s Play-In Tournament.

Below is a breakdown of James’ stellar performance in the battle of Los Angeles.

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LeBron James stats vs. Clippers

James played a team-high 37 minutes in the Lakers’ four-point win over the Clippers. He scored a team-high 34 points and dished out eight assists while also adding six rebounds and two blocks to his statistical totals from the game.

Most impressively, James made a season-high seven 3-pointers in the Lakers’ win. A whopping five of those came in the fourth quarter when the all-time great got hot from beyond the arc to fuel his team’s comeback victory.

James’ seven 3-point makes are tied for the third-most in a game during his career. His career-high of nine 3-pointers also came against the Clippers; however, the Lakers lost that contest 133-115, so James will prefer the results from Wednesday’s game.

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Lakers, Clippers react to LeBron James’ fourth-quarter takeover

Naturally, James’ greatness drew the attention of members of the Lakers and Clippers alike.

Lakers coach Darvin Ham credited his star with taking over the game at the right time to lead the comeback.

“He had to take the cape, tuck it under his seat on the bench, I guess,” Ham said, per ESPN. “It was time for him to whip it out. He definitely did that, put the cape on and just got aggressive and got into good rhythm.”

Meanwhile, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue lamented his historic loss while crediting James for his efforts in the fourth quarter.

“I don’t think that’s ever happened in my career since I’ve been coaching to lose a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter,” Lue said. “But LeBron got hot. We talked about it before the game: You can’t turn the ball over against his team because it’s deadly.”

Lakers legend Magic Johnson also praised James for his performance, taking to X (formerly Twitter) to laud him for putting “the Lakers on his back.”

And James’ right-hand man, Anthony Davis, succinctly summed up James’ heroic effort during a postgame news conference.

“Sometimes you sit on the bench and you get to witness greatness and be a fan,” Davis said. “And that’s what it was for a lot of us tonight.”