LeBron James, in full dad mode, hilariously acknowledged on Wednesday that he’d gone to bed at 8:30 p.m. the night before and missed his “company holiday party.” (Which company? Good question. Don’t forget that in addition to the Lakers and SpringHill and Nike and Sprite, LeBron James is Gwangi.) Then he napped for 2-1/2 hours before the Lakers’ late ESPN game against the Spurs. Good thing! L.A. needed him til the end.
Dad LeBron finally woke up from his nap
We have that and more in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
LeBron scored 20 in the fourth and 42 overall to give the Lakers an 8-point win over the flailing but feisty Spurs. The Lakers outscored the Spurs by 19 in the 40 minutes Dad Bron played, and were outscored by 11 points by San Antonio in the eight minutes he sat. Complicating matters was Brandon Ingram’s knockout ankle injury early in the first. The Lakers are much better on offense than defense, but there actually aren’t many creators on the roster beyond Ingram, LeBron, and Lonzo Ball. So LeBron might need some more early bedtimes and long naps if Ingrams misses time.
LeBron actually didn’t have the best fourth in the league on Wednesday, by the way. Paul George scored 25 in the fourth on his way to 47 in a comeback Thunder win over the Nets. Good thing PG-13 and Bron didn’t team up this summer -- they’d just get in each other’s way!
The Lakers are 13-4 since Halloween. The Thunder are 16-3 since Oct. 28. Good teams.
Scores
Warriors 129, Cavaliers 105
Nuggets 124, Magic 118 (OT)
Wizards 131, Hawks 117
Thunder 114, Nets 112
Sixers 102, Raptors 113
Clippers 86, Grizzlies 96
Pistons 92, Bucks 115
Hornets 104, Timberwolves 121
Mavericks 106, Pelicans 132
Spurs 113, Lakers 121
Schedule
All times Eastern.
Knicks at Celtics, 8 p.m., TNT
Suns at Blazers, 10, League Pass
Rockets at Jazz, 10:30, TNT
Links
Seattle is getting a hockey team. I wrote about why Sonics fans are still left waiting.
Kyle Lowry, in full Kyle Lowry mode, tells Rachel Nichols that he doesn’t have a relationship with Raptors boss Masai Ujiri and they both just do their jobs. Ujiri hilariously declares that Lowry is mad at him every year. Go Raps.
It sounds like there’s some smoke indicating that Rich Paul might be trying to get the Lakers and Wizards to work out a deal to get John Wall to L.A.
Star players explain why it’s hard to join LeBron as a free agent. Luke Walton -- who, lets be clear, was never a star player so might not quite understand -- doesn’t understand.
Derek Fisher, failed union leader and NBA coach, has been hired to coach the L.A. Sparks. Hope he doesn’t flop again.
I am very on board with Better Worlds, a Verge project on optimistic sci-fi.
Be excellent to each other.
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