2. The Comeback
So me and a couple friends have a group chat which is named “LABron” because some of the guys in it are strictly LeBron James fans and some of us are straight up Laker diehards.
I’m going to be straight up with you all, during the 2nd quarter I may have started a “Tank for Zion” conversation. Now I’m not really THAT superstitious. To quote Michael Scott, “but I am a little stitious” and as soon as this conversation started the Lakers went on their run.
So say what you want, but I like to believe someone on the Lakers is wire tapped into my group chat, saw that text, and said: “not happening.”
Seriously though, the comeback was exhilarating and not in the fundamental “we were losing and then came from behind and won” kind of way. It was more in the “we just blown out by 42 two days ago to a team without their best player and we’re down by 18 in the first half to our biggest rival and half our team has spent the last week waiting to be traded away and now we’re one blow out away from absolute destruction, so this is a must-win game” kind of way. They needed this comeback in so many ways. For hope, experience, confidence, and most importantly chemistry.
What I enjoyed about this comeback is they did it as a team. LeBron didn’t go on a famous 18-point streak with no else scoring. The whole team locked in, dug deep and pulled this out. The third quarter in particular is what I want to focus on.
This is a quarter the Lakers need to remember over the next two months as they make this run. They scored 42 points, outscoring Boston by 15. Kuzma was exceptional in this quarter scoring 14 points himself off 4-of-6 for deep. But he didn’t do it alone.
Everyone that played contributed something, Ingram and KCP both hit two 3s, and LeBron poured in seven assists. He didn’t take it on himself to make this comeback, instead, he relied on help from the guys that he will have to rely on a lot more for the rest of this season and they came through.
This quarter was the moment the Lakers decided they weren’t going to be washed away this season behind the drama of the trade deadline and the media. They overcame a double digit lead with a frantic and tumultuous Boston crowd and they did it together in a matter of 9 minutes.
They were down 59-41 with 4:05 left in the first half and took the 75-72 with 7:13 left in the third quarter. That is extremely impressive considering what they’ve been going through recently. I was starting to get worried after the loss to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday.
I didn’t know what direction this team was going to go and I didn’t know what could fix them. The famous saying that “time heals everything” may be correct in life but in sports, there’s one thing that heals all and it’s winning.