Watch: LeBron James puts his body on the line by diving over the front-row seats to secure a loose ball
LeBron James is bringing the intensity in his 20th year. The LA Lakers superstar tried to inspire his teammates with outrageous play to save the ball from going out of bounds during the team's home game against the LA Clippers on Tuesday (Jan 24th).
The play occurred during the 5:14 minute mark of the third quarter. The Lakers were down badly, trailing by 23 points at the half, and had trimmed the Clippers' lead to 14. James tapped the ball out of Kawhi Leonard's hands, but it went out of bounds on the sidelines.
In a bid to avoid awarding the Clippers another possession, the former MVP put his body on the line, jumping over the first row. LeBron James took a hard hit but avoided a potential injury on the play. Here's a clip of the incident (via Lakers Lead):
LEBRON JAMES PUTTING HIS BODY ON THE LINE DOWN 14 IN YEAR 20! BUILT DIFFERENT! 👑
https://t.co/nPQyiZLXKK
LeBron James puts on a show in the LA Lakers' loss to LA Clippers.
LeBron James dropped 46 points during the LA Lakers' 133-115 loss against the LA Clippers on Tuesday. James became the first player in history to score 40 points in a game against all 30 teams in the league. The four-time MVP single-handedly tried to will his team to a win, but the supporting cast just didn't show up.
James shot 55.2% from the field, making a career-high nine shots from 3-point range. He also had eight rebounds, seven assists, and two steals while committing zero turnovers during the game. James nearly guided the Lakers to a solid comeback in the fourth period.
The Lakers trimmed the Clippers' lead to 10 at the 6:46 mark after trailing by 23 points at one stage. The Clippers fended off LeBron and the Lakers with an 8-0 run as the Lakers eventually waived the white flag, pulling their main rotation players out of the game.
Nevertheless, the home fans thoroughly enjoyed LeBron James torching the Clippers himself. James' former teammate Dwayne Wade was also in attendance and was out of his seat after James' final make from 3-point-range cut the Clippers' lead to 10. Here's a clip of Wade's reaction as he yelled:
"That's my dog!"
LEBRON JAMES IS ON FIRE 🔥👀 https://t.co/oO7LNYse0c
The LA Lakers have now fallen back to four games under the .500 mark. They are 22-26 right now, 2.5 games behind the sixth seed and 1.5 games behind the 10th seed. The Lakers' fortunes could change, with Anthony Davis expected to play in their next game against the Spurs on Wednesday (Jan 25th).
LA will also have new recruit Rui Hachimura available in the lineup for that game, and it will be interesting to see if the Lakers are any better with the return of these players.