LeBron James, Rui Hachimura interact with Roki Sasaki as Dodgers pitcher attends Lakers vs Wizards

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LeBron James, who was previously on the injury report, recorded 21 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists against the Wizards.

LeBron James, Rui Hachimura interact with Roki Sasaki as Dodgers pitcher attends Lakers vs Wizards

Image credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Lakers took on the Eastern Conference’s bottom seed, the Washington Wizards, on Tuesday, January 21 at Crypto.com Arena. The LeBron James-starred side came off the back of Sunday’s disappointing 116-102 loss to their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers.

As the Lakers host Jordan Poole in a crucial game, they aim to turn things around and record their 23rd win of the season and 15th at home. The game against the 6-35 lowly Wizards is the Lakers’ penultimate home game before embarking on a six-game road trip.

The game featured superstar forward LeBron James, who was on the injury report due to a left foot injury and was listed as ‘probable’. However, James was later upgraded to available, recording 21 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists.

Along with him, forward Anthony Davis was also listed as questionable on the injury report. But to everyone’s relief, he was later upgraded and was in the lineup, leading the Lakers to a 111-88 victory against the Wizards. The 31-year-old scored 29 points and added 16 rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes of play.

Aside from James and Davis’ feature, the match saw several celebrities come to support the home favorites. Among them was New Angeles Dodgers latest recruit Roki Sasaki, who was seen interacting with James and Japanese native Rui Hachimura before tipoff. In particular, the defending champions Los Angeles Dodgers recently signed Japanese ace Sasaki.

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We have to do a better job: LeBron James stresses there is no room for error after loss to Clippers

As the trade deadline approaches, the Lakers find themselves at a crucial crossroads with a 22-18 record and sixth place in the Western Conference. After the loss to the Clippers, head coach JJ Redick pointed to the team’s urgent need to improve the lineup, to which James agreed.

“We don’t have a choice. That’s the way our team is built. We have to play close to perfect basketball,” James said.

“The game is never going to be perfect for 48 minutes, but we can’t have any more breakdowns. If we turn the ball over, we have to do a better job with it….We can’t have breakdowns in our game plan,” the star forward added .

James has produced consistent performances this season, averaging 23.8 points per game with 8.9 assists and 7.4 rebounds per game. In the loss against the Clippers, he scored 25 points and added 11 assists and 5 rebounds.