LeBron James leads Los Angeles Lakers into NBA play-offs after thriller

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers have a knack of making things difficult for themselves this National Basketball Association (NBA) season, yet prevailing when it mattered the most.

On Tuesday night, it happened again, as LeBron James scored 30 points to lead the team into the NBA play-offs with a thrilling come-from-behind 108-102 overtime home win against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The manner of the victory was a reflection of how the regular season has been for the Lakers. They overcame a disastrous 2-10 start, were 26-32 on Feb 13 before going a massive 17-7 down the stretch to get to the play-in tournament.

Fighting back against the odds has been their forte this campaign, as they clinched the seventh seed and advanced to a Western Conference first-round series against the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies starting on Sunday.

“This is what our sport is all about – getting to April and having an opportunity to play in the post-season,” the 38-year-old James said after the win over the Timberwolves. We’ve been battle-tested all year and since the All-Star break we’ve been playing some good basketball.”

Lakers coach Darvin Ham added: “Once you get to the end of things, to have everyone healthy, to be playing in the type of rhythm we’re playing in, to defend at the level that we’re defending at, going into the most important time of the year, you can’t ask for a better situation.”

Minnesota will have a second chance to reach the post-season as the Western Conference’s eighth seed on Friday, when they will meet either New Orleans or Oklahoma City, who face off on Wednesday (Thursday morning, Singapore time).

A nerve-jangling fourth quarter on Tuesday saw the Lakers battle back from a 10-point deficit to move to the brink of victory, after James engineered a three-pointer for Dennis Schroder to put Los Angeles 98-95 ahead with just 1.4 seconds remaining.

But as the home crowd prepared to celebrate, Anthony Davis was called for a rash foul on Mike Conley as the Timberwolves veteran attempted a desperate game-tying trey.

Conley missed but he duly stepped up to drain three free throws under excruciating pressure to tie the game at 98-98 and force overtime.

Yet the Lakers regrouped – like they have been doing all season – to start overtime with a flurry of points.

Rui Hachimura’s three-pointer and a Schroder lay-up put them five points clear.

Los Angeles kept their noses in front and after a missed three-point attempt by Taurean Prince that could have tied it for Minnesota, the hosts closed out the win.

Davis had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers, while Schroder added 21 points.

“It took everything out of us to get to where we are, and it took more out of us tonight,” Davis said.

“But we’ve got a couple of days before we go to Memphis to start preparing for them. It’s been a battle. It’s been an up-and-down season for us, but now is the time to show who we are, and we showed it tonight.”

Karl-Anthony Towns recorded 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the Timberwolves and Conley made six three-pointers while scoring 23 points.

“We expected to win this game,” Conley said.

“It’s disappointing to lose. We had a lead and let it slip. This should be a different post-game speech.

“We’ve just got to be mentally and physically more engaged at the end, and we’ve got a couple of days to work on it.” AFP, REUTERS