{"id":717451,"date":"2026-04-25T03:36:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T03:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/717451\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T03:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T03:36:45","slug":"nba-world-reacts-to-lebron-james-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/717451\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA World Reacts To LeBron James’ Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

HOUSTON, TEXAS – APRIL 24: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the first quarter of the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on April 24, 2026 in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kenneth Richmond\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

On Friday evening, the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> played the Rockets in Houston for Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.<\/p>\n

The Lakers won (in overtime) by a score of 112-108.<\/p>\n

LeBron James<\/a> finished with 29 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, three steals and one block while shooting 10\/22 from the field and 4\/9 from three-point range in 45 minutes of playing time.<\/p>\n

NBA World Reacts To LeBron James\u2019 Performance
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GettyLeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the first quarter of the game against the Houston Rockets<\/a> at Toyota Center on April 24, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what people were saying about James on social media:<\/p>\n

Real App:<\/a> \u201cLeBron James has more 25\/10\/5 playoff games as a Laker than Shaq & Wilt COMBINED.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Timpf<\/a>: \u201cFor one of the greatest winners in NBA<\/a> history, just a bizarre move from LeBron to jog back and concede a layup on such a critical possession.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefan Bondy:<\/a> \u201cLeBron James is 40 years old and finished alley-oop passes thrown at the 3-point line. Rockets will prolly win this game but LeBron is just incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skip Bayless:<\/a> \u201cLakers gut out a big win without Luka despite 8 LeBron turnovers. Lakers up 3-0! BRING ON OKC!\u201d<\/p>\n

John Fanta:<\/a> \u201cWhat an unbelievable turn of events in Houston. LeBron. James.\u201d<\/p>\n

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GettyLeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the first quarter of the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on April 24, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

@SwipaCam:<\/a> \u201cLEBRON JAMES IS THE GOAT!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Rachel A DeMita:<\/a> \u201cLeBron still diving for the ball in OT of the playoffs in his 23rd season is just insane\u201d<\/p>\n

Yahoo Sports:<\/a> \u201cLeBron\u2019s clutch three forces OT and the Lakers handle business to be ONE win away from sweeping Houston \ud83d\ude31\u201d<\/p>\n

Kevin O\u2019Connor:<\/a> \u201cDon\u2019t take LeBron James for granted\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan Woike:<\/a> \u201cLeBron James, at 41, sat for 1 minute and 53 seconds in the 2nd half and overtime. Remarkable game.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 41, James is still one of the best forwards in the NBA.<\/p>\n

He finished the regular season with averages of 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.2 steals per contest while shooting 51.5% from the field and 31.7% from three-point range in 60 games.<\/p>\n

James And The Lakers
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GettyLeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the first half of a game against the Phoenix Suns<\/a> at Crypto.com Arena on April 10, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.<\/p>\n

The Lakers finished the 2025-26 regular season as the fourth seed with a 53-29 record.<\/p>\n

With their win on Friday, they improved to 26-16 in 42 games on the road away from Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

Game 4 will be back in Houston on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Whoever wins the series will face off against either the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> or Phoenix Suns in the second round.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tBen Stinar<\/a> Ben Stinar has been covering the NBA for over seven years.\u00a0
\n
\nHe has written for OnSI, Forbes, Amico Hoops, The Big Lead and had a podcast with former All-Star Jameer Nelson. More about Ben Stinar<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty HOUSTON, TEXAS – APRIL 24: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":717452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-717451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-la","10":"tag-la-lakers","11":"tag-lakers","12":"tag-lalakers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleslakers","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116463258369440692","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717451","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=717451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/717451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=717451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=717451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}