Yahoo Finance Zion Williamson scores career-high 35, but it's not enough against LeBron's triple-double
Zion Williamson was powering his New Orleans Pelicans to a massively important win at home Sunday, scoring a new career-high in points.
And then LeBron James got going.
The NBA’s future collided with its past and present for the second time in a week, and — once again — James and the Lakers came out on top 120-112 in a massively entertaining contest.
Zion dropped the hammer and LeBron responded immediately with a 3 from Bourbon Street 😮 pic.twitter.com/JDrXP4AaBN
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 2, 2020
Williamson set his new high water-mark with 35 points on 12-of-16 shooting, but James was even better with a 34-point, 13-assist, 12-rebound triple-double.
LeBron takes over vs. Pelicans
The Pelicans seemed well in place with a 101-95 lead early in the fourth quarter, but then James accounted for 19 of the Lakers’ next 23 points between scoring and assists.
It was simply one of those takeover games from James.
A surgeon with his back to the basket 👑🥼 pic.twitter.com/PiqDuIpPN0
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) March 2, 2020
By the end of that span, the Lakers were up 118-112 and cruising.
It wasn’t all good from LeBron though:
LeBrain fart 😂 pic.twitter.com/Xuph6SMoJ7
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) March 2, 2020
As the game came to an end, Williamson and James once again embraced with the NBA world watching.
LeBron x Zion
The King had a message postgame for Zion 🤝 pic.twitter.com/i3dV2SNTan— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 2, 2020
James said after the game that he believes it is his responsibility to help mentor the next generation of NBA stars, saying that any critics of that approach — which may or may not exist — can “Kiss my ass.”
The win gives the 46-13 Lakers a 5.5-game cushion for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, while the Pelicans fell to 26-34 and three games back from the Memphis Grizzlies for the West’s final playoff spot.
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