{"id":707268,"date":"2026-04-10T09:04:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/707268\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T09:04:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:04:35","slug":"lebron-james-powers-shorthanded-lakers-to-important-win-over-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/707268\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James powers shorthanded Lakers to important win over Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AA cubist interpretation of the intense on-court battle between LeBron James and the shorthanded Lakers against Stephen Curry and the Warriors.San Francisco Today<\/p>\n

LeBron James led the shorthanded Los Angeles Lakers to a 119-103 win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, scoring 26 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. The Lakers are battling the Houston Rockets for the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, with both teams having two games remaining and the Lakers holding the head-to-head tiebreaker.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

The win keeps the Lakers in the hunt for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, which could be crucial given their injury issues. The absence of Warriors star Stephen Curry also put a damper on what could have been another marquee matchup between two of the league’s biggest stars in James and Curry.<\/p>\n

The details<\/p>\n

With the Lakers dealing with a number of injuries, including to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, James stepped up to steady the team. After the Lakers gave up a 9-0 run to start the second quarter, James hit a contested three-pointer to get the team back on track. He also fed the ball to Deandre Ayton, who finished with 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting.<\/p>\n

The Lakers (51-29) are fighting to maintain home-court advantage over the Houston Rockets, who won their eighth straight game on Thursday.Both the Lakers and Rockets have two games remaining in the regular season.<\/p>\n

The players<\/p>\n

LeBron James<\/a><\/p>\n

A 41-year-old superstar forward for the Los Angeles Lakers who led the team to victory with 26 points and 11 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Stephen Curry<\/a><\/p>\n

The star point guard for the Golden State Warriors who missed the game due to a chronic knee injury, disappointing fans who had traveled from New Zealand and Australia to see him play.<\/p>\n

JJ Redick<\/p>\n

The head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers who acknowledged the team’s struggles with injuries and lineup changes throughout the season.<\/p>\n

Luka Doncic<\/p>\n

The Lakers’ injured player who is currently in Spain receiving treatment on his hamstring and is in ‘relatively good spirits’ according to Redick.<\/p>\n

Austin Reaves<\/p>\n

The Lakers’ injured player who is out with a Grade 2 left oblique strain and has benefited from staying with the team during his recovery.<\/p>\n

Got photos? Submit your photos here. \u203a<\/a>
\n What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been fun to watch as a fan, and it’s been fun to be a part of it the last couple years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 JJ Redick, Lakers coach<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I told the team today \u2014 I think this is important \u2014 is we have had a very disjointed season because of all the injuries and throughout the year, we, collectively, staff, players, we’ve had to figure out the best path forward with whatever group is available.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 JJ Redick, Lakers coach<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next<\/p>\n

The Lakers and Rockets both have two games remaining in the regular season, and the Lakers hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Lakers will be hoping to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs as they continue to deal with injuries.<\/p>\n

The takeaway<\/p>\n

Despite a season filled with injuries and lineup changes, the Lakers have managed to stay in the hunt for a top-4 seed in the Western Conference. LeBron James’ leadership and performance have been crucial, and the team will need continued contributions from role players to secure a favorable playoff position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a A cubist interpretation of the intense on-court battle between LeBron…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,292,194,4066,6,211],"class_list":{"0":"post-707268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-rockets","11":"tag-houstonrockets","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-rockets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116379616019981670","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}