Revisiting LeBron James' last 5 outings on NBA opening night
LeBron James will begin the 2021-22 NBA regular season by going against the formidable Golden State Warriors on October 19th. In a rematch of the play-in game that, in essence, killed GSW's hopes of making it to the playoffs, the LA Lakers will flaunt their newly built roster.
The LA Lakers seem to have built an offensive superpower. Three of their main attack force members, namely Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis and James, are offensive masters. All three averaged at least 21 points per game in the 2020-21 regular season. Meanwhile, James, the highest scorer amongst the three, averaged 25 points per game.
LeBron James is all set to play on October 19th against the Golden State Warriors
"I'm not going to completely ruin my sleep pattern for the week by staying up to watch Bucks vs Nets and Warriors vs Lakers on opening night" 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
LeBron James, the strongest player on the Lakers roster, has remained one of the most anticipated players in the NBA for almost two decades. His charisma and crowd drawing abilities are incomparable. For this reason, for NBA schedules are not built on chance, he has played in five of the last six season's opening night games and will play again on October 19th, taking the count to 6 out of 7 seasons.
#1 Versus the LA Clippers (December 22, 2020)
Greatness lies on the other side of sleep. 😴💪🏾 🚀 @calm gets my mind right for the season and helps my 💤 increase to put my 🧠 at peace. 🙏🏾 LET’S GO! https://t.co/ldO0x0vFJJ
The city of Los Angeles has two NBA teams and will continue to do so until the LA Clippers move to Inglewood, California. With two top-notch teams sharing a stadium and a city, rivalry is inevitable. And such fierce rivalry is the perfect recipe for all-out battles capable of enticing the crowds and fans to levels beyond comprehension.
So, the match between the Lakers and Clippers on December 22, 2020 after the forced hiatus due to an unprecedented pandemic was the perfect way to start the season. Although the duo of Paul George and Kawhi Leonard steamrolled their opponents to take the game 116-109, the performance by LeBron James was quite commendable.
Aged 35 at the time the match was played, LeBron James scored 22 points in 28 minutes and 21 seconds. During his scoring spree, he launched eight three-pointers and converted three of them. He also recorded five assists and five rebounds.
#2 Versus the LA Clippers (October 22, 2019)
On October 22,2019, before a virus put the world to a global halt, the Clippers clashed with the LA Lakers to officially start the 2019-20 season that would end in a bubble. On game night, the Clippers, like on the 2020 opening night, defeated the team they share their stadium with.
While the final scorecard read 112-102, LeBron James remained two assists shy of a triple-double. He scored 18 points in the game, gathered 10 rebounds and registered eight assists.