Mar 1, 2020; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) defends against Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) during the fourth quarter at the Smoothie King Center.
Lebron James dominated the Smoothie King Center as he carried the Los Angeles Lakers to a victory against the raging New Orleans Pelicans, posting a monstrous triple-double performance taking down Zion Williamson and his crew, 122-114.
Even with a career-high 35-point performance, Zion fell short to overcome "The King" and the AD-less Lakers' as Lebron records his 13th triple-double of the season leading his team in points, assists, and rebounds to tie with Luka Doncic for most triple-doubles in the current season as he showcase 34 points, 12 rebounds, 13 assists and two steals hitting 66.7% in the field to sweep the Pelicans (4-0) in the regular season.
Right in the opening tip-off, Lebron James hustles for a possession, dropping a corner three to start his domination, "The King" continues to shine as he sliced through the paint with a behind the back and a reverse layup and muscles his way in on three defenders to get an 'and-one' but the Pelicans refused to back down as they set the tempo early on the game running down the lanes and closing the quarter with a put-back courtesy of former Laker Josh Hart for a 4 point lead,33-29.
Pelicans' transition offense in the second frame kept them in the game as Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson finishes the feed from Lonzo ball who had nine assists and 19 points the entire the game and with 37 seconds before the end of first half, Zion Williamson bulldozed Kyle Kuzma and slammed it at home to gain a 3 point lead but just after three seconds "The King" answers with a "long bomb" to tie the game and ending the half up by two, 63-61.
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Down by two points, the Pelicans capitalized on their "Young Core" led by Zion Williamson who had multiple dunks in the fastbreak but the Lakers' bench answered the Pelicans' run as they close the third with a run of their own to stay in the game and down only by two, 95-93.
A hot start in the fourth quarter for the Pelicans as they even stretched the lead to six points hitting the century mark first, but the Lakers launched an 11-0 run to take the driver seat with Lebron James taking the wheel, "The" capitalized the mismatch against Josh Hart and Jrue Holiday at the post, making New Orleans pay for putting a small defender on him but Zion continued to draw contact in the paint closing the gap and with 4:30 remaining in the game clock Lonzo Ball ties the game with a floater, 108-108.
With the clock whining down Lebron James managed to draw the defense on him and finds an open Kyle Kuzma who drilled a corner three to get the upper hand in the final minutes, with Lebron and Zion defending each other, Zion pulled up a perimeter shot in front of James to put the game within just two, but Lebron answered the rookie and proved that he is still "the King" as he nailed a dagger beyond the arc over Zion extending the lead to 5points with 2 minutes remaining, as James pulls away with a W and exploded in the fourth with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists.
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