{"id":11615,"date":"2024-12-17T01:43:10","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T01:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=11615"},"modified":"2024-12-17T01:43:10","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T01:43:10","slug":"breaking-lebron-james-drops-truth-bomb-on-lakers-two-game-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=11615","title":{"rendered":"breaking: LeBron James Drops Truth Bomb on Lakers\u2019 Two-Game Absence.."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2190152000-e1734389228411.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2190152000-e1734389228411.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2190152000-e1734389228411.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2190152000-e1734389228411.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"LeBron James, Lakers\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"740\" data-dom-ready-time=\"743\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers after an offensive foul against Desmond Bane of the Memphis Grizzlies.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>LeBron James\u00a0reveals it wasn\u2019t his decision to step away from the\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers\u00a0for a long break, which saw him miss two games after initially saying he planned to play all 82 regular-season games.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it was up to just me, I probably would\u2019ve played,\u201d\u00a0James told reporters\u00a0of the two games he missed during his eight-day break. \u201cIt would\u2019ve been hard to keep me away from it. I have a team and I got to listen to them as well. They look out for my best interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 39-year-old James returned with aplomb on Sunday, December 15, producing a near triple-double to help the Lakers beat the surging\u00a0Memphis Grizzlies\u00a0116-110 at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n<p>James had 18 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and two blocks in 34 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had an opportunity to take more days and get my mind, body and everything where I wanted it to be for tonight,\u201d James continued. \u201cAnd it worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>\u2018LeBron Is Not Done\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Austin Reaves, who added 19 points and eight assists in his second game back from a five-game layoff due to a left pelvic contusion, summed up James\u2019 return with a solid quote at the beginning of his post-game presser.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeBron is not done,\u201d Reaves told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>James\u2019 triumphant return marked only the Grizzlies\u2019 second loss in their last 12 games.<\/p>\n<p>With renewed energy, James set the tone for the Lakers\u2019 wire-to-wire victory with a one-handed dunk two minutes and 40 seconds into the game. Then James made his signature chase-down block on Desmond Bane\u2019s layup attempt on the other end. His tip-in off Rui Hachimura\u2019s miss gave the Lakers a 9-2 lead and they never looked back.<\/p>\n<p>The lead ballooned to as many as 23 points before the Grizzlies made a last-ditch rally after\u00a0Anthony Davis\u00a0went out with a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n<p>Davis shrugged off the pain as he delivered 40 points, 16 rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in a monster performance to preserve the Lakers\u2019 second victory over their last three games.<\/p>\n<p>Lakers coach JJ Redick labeled Davis\u2019 injury as a \u201cstinger.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Worst Net Rating of LeBron\u2019s Career<\/h2>\n<p>James made three of his four shots. He ended up shooting 7-of-17 from the floor and still committed a team-high five turnovers. But the Lakers were not outscored in James\u2019 minutes, which had been an issue for the team this season.<\/p>\n<p>His\u00a0-3.8 net rating\u00a0this season is the worst of his career.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers\u2019 elimination from the NBA Cup allowed James to take the long break.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt pretty good,\u201d James told reporters. \u201cIt\u2019s very rare throughout the course of a season where you can take advantage of a schedule and I was able to do that over the past week.<\/p>\n<p>James said after his triple-double in an overtime loss in Atlanta on December 6, he felt something was off.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt it \u2014 my foot and my body \u2014 after that,\u201d James told reporters. \u201cI did my pregame workout on that Sunday for the Portland game and decided that it was probably best that I probably take that game off and then looking forward to the schedule, we didn\u2019t play again till Friday in Minnesota.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>James also skipped the Minnesota trip, which resulted in a 97-87 loss for the Lakers. But it gave the Lakers superstar, who will turn 40 on December 30, an additional two-day rest.<\/p>\n<p>James said he tried to stay in game shape as much as possible for the past week while he was away from the team.<\/p>\n<div id=\"AdThrive_Content_5_desktop\" class=\"adthrive-ad adthrive-content adthrive-content-5 adthrive-ad-cls\" data-google-query-id=\"CNiOvtzVrYoDFZTxTAIdvKgotA\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_\/18190176,25816858\/AdThrive_Content_5\/5ad7479721520f50ab7da88e_0__container__\">\n<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<p>\u201cA lot of rehabbing, a lot of training still to make sure that I was ready to go tonight,\u201d James told reporters. \u201cDidn\u2019t want to get too much out of shape.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers after an offensive foul against Desmond Bane of the Memphis Grizzlies. LeBron James\u00a0reveals it wasn\u2019t his decision to step&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>breaking: LeBron James Drops Truth Bomb on Lakers\u2019 Two-Game Absence.. - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=11615\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"breaking: LeBron James Drops Truth Bomb on Lakers\u2019 Two-Game Absence.. - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers after an offensive foul against Desmond Bane of the Memphis Grizzlies. 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