By HoopsHype | February 21, 2025
What’s the buzz on Twitter?
Austin Reaves on LeBron James’ 40 point game tonight on the 2nd night of a back-to-back at 40 years old: “He really doesn’t have anything else to prove. And if people say he does, then they’re Jordan fans” pic.x.com/09G4pygI4C – 1:53 AM
I’m LIVE on the @SportingTrib’s X talking about the Lakers breaking their two-game losing skid by beating Portland thanks to LeBron James and Austin Reaves on a night when Luka Doncic was out. We also talk about the success of the 4 Nations Face-Off. x.com/i/broadcasts/1… – 12:49 AM
Redick on LeBron (40 points): “He defies anything that’s normal … it’s the mentality. He’s a billionaire and he’s playing on the second night of a back-to-back at 40 … he’s one of the greatest competitors. He’s amazing to coach. He brings it every single day.” – 12:46 AM
Khobi Price @khobi_price Final: Lakers 110, Trail Blazers 102. LeBron James: 40 points, eight rebounds, four assists. Second 40-point game in his 40s. Austin Reaves: 32 points, seven assists.
Next up: Saturday at Denver. – 12:35 AM
The Lakers hold on to beat POR, 110-102, improve to 33-21. LeBron 40p on 14-of-24 8r 4a 2s 11tos (ties career high, but also improves to 3-0 in career with 10+ turnovers); Reaves 32p 7a 2s 2b 6tos; DFS 10p 6r 2s; Rui 12r. Big one up next on Sat in DEN vs. West’s No. 2 Nuggets. – 12:34 AM
11 turnovers for LeBron? – 12:26 AM
LeBron stripped the ball from Simons, and it went off Simons last, gaining LA an important possession with 1:19 to play, and a 6-point lead. – 12:23 AM
LeBron James’ 10 turnovers are his most in a game since having 11 in a Jan. 26, 2018 win over the Pacers when he played for the Cavaliers. – 12:21 AM
Austin Reaves makes up for his pass being picked off by sprinting back to take a charge. LAL is up 102-98 as we approach the 2 minute mark. – 12:18 AM
Mike Trudell @LakersReporter LeBron (38) and Reaves (30) have carried such a load that the 3rd-leading scorer tonight is Jaxson Hayes with 9 points.
LA lead 102-96 with 3:12 to play. – 12:17 AM
Khobi Price @khobi_price After Portland tied the game at 81, Austin Reaves made a layup and LeBron James made a pair of 3s and then a 17-footer over Jerami Grant to put the Lakers up 91-84 midway through the 4Q.
LeBron’s scored eight of his 36 points in the 4Q. – 12:03 AM
LeBron James, a night after scoring 16 pts in the 4th Q, starts off the 4th Q locked in here in POR. He has 8 pts on 3-for-4 shooting so far (and 36 pts on 13-for-13 for the game) to give LAL a 91-84 lead with 7:22 to go. – 12:03 AM
Mike Trudell @LakersReporter LeBron James is up to 36 points after draining 3 more jumpers, including his 3rd and 4th 3’s of the evening, and has LA up 91-84 with 7:22 to play.
He’s 13 of 23 overall from the field. – 12:03 AM
Just like in one of the game in LA this season, LeBron’s three-point shooting undoing Portland’s chances – 12:00 AM
Khobi Price @khobi_price END OF 3Q: Lakers 78, Trail Blazers 77. LAL with 9 turnovers for 14 Blazers’ points in that quarter after having 9 turnovers for 11 Portland points in the 1H.
LeBron James: 28 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists but 9 turnovers. Austin Reaves: 21 points, 5 assists but 5 turnovers. – 11:54 PM
The Luka-less Lakers are in danger of losing to a third-straight team out of the playoff picture. They are up 78-77 on POR heading into the 4th Q. LeBron has 28 pts to lead all scorers, but has committed 9 of LAL’s 18 turnovers. – 11:53 PM
LAL 66-60 after Deni Avdija’s dunk in transition following LeBron James’ 7th turnover of the night. 8-2 run for Portland before LAL’s timeout. – 11:36 PM
LeBron James has his pass stolen by Deni Avdija who finishes the play with a flush on the other end. It’s LeBron’s 7th turnover of the night and the Blazers have cut LAL’s lead to six halfway through the 3rd Q. – 11:35 PM
Khobi Price @khobi_price Halftime: Lakers 55, Blazers 47. Austin Reaves (19p/2a) and LeBron James (16p/5r/3a/2s) are leading LAL. Lakers are just 2/15 (13.3%) on 3s but 19/29 (65.5%) on 2s.
LAL with 34 PITP after finishing with 40 and 36 PITP in their previous two games. – 11:13 PM
The Lakers take a 55-47 cushion into the half, after leading by as many as 18. Reaves 19p on 5-of-9 shooting, LeBron 16p on 7-of-11. A night after going 15-for-51 from 3 as a team, LAL has cut back on their attempts from the outside, but still aren’t hitting – 2-for-15 (13.3%) – 11:12 PM
LeBron, on the 2nd night of a B2B at age 40 when the team arrived at the hotel at 3 a.m., has been terrific early, scoring 12 points with 3 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals in 10 minutes to help LA go up 40-22. – 10:50 PM
LeBron James is playing in Game No. 1,542 of his career tonight, passing Vince Carter for the third most regular season games played of all time. – 10:47 PM
Marc J. Spears @MarcJSpears LeBron James passed Vince Carter (1,541) into third place in NBA history in games played with his appearance at Portland tonight. 1. Robert Parish (1,611) 2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1,560) 3. LeBron James (1,542)
4. Vince Carter (1,541) pic.x.com/kSUGYD9FqZ – 10:17 PM
Khobi Price @khobi_price Lakers say LeBron James (left foot injury management) has been upgraded to available for tonight at Portland.
LAL starters: Reaves, Finney-Smith, Hachimura, James, Hayes. – 9:37 PM
LeBron has been upgraded to available on this second night of the B2B and will start alongside Reaves, DFS, Hachimura and Hayes. – 9:32 PM
John Gonzalez @JohnGonzalez Beyond the Arc LIVE on YouTube at 12 pm ET w/ @SamQuinnCBS -Luka, LeBron and the Lakers followed up their worst loss of the season with…their worst loss of the season -Bobby Portis suspended 25 games for drug policy violation -Post-AS storylines
youtube.com/live/omY8UQ1mI… – 11:50 AM
New story: Luka was the passer and LeBron was the guy to take the last shot Wednesday. But that won’t always be the case. “I think it will go both ways,” Doncic said. “One time it’s going to be him, one time me” espn.com/nba/story/_/id… – 10:04 AM
Jorge Sierra @hoopshype LeBron James passed Horace Grant in blocks last night. He’s now No. 75 in NBA history.
The only players in the Top 75 in all of the main counting stats are LeBron, Karl Malone and Kevin Garnett. – 6:19 AM
More on this storyline
A reporter posed a question to Reaves after the game: “Austin, just as a basketball aficionado, was there a part of …” “A what?” Reaves asked. “Helping your vocab tonight, ‘aficionado,’” the reporter replied. “What’s that?” Reaves asked. “A fan,” the reporter responded. Lakers teammate Jaxson Hayes, sitting beside Reaves, jumped in to clarify. “Big fan,” Hayes said, shaking his head in amusement. “Someone who appreciates the game of basketball,” the reporter added. “I didn’t know that,” Reaves said. “Thank you.” -via Awful Announcing / February 12, 2025
