LeBron James he worked his way through the season, giving up shots to Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves, committing to JJ Redick’s style and letting his teammates establish themselves in the first few games of his 21st season.
Maybe it was him being respectful of a new process. Perhaps it was a sign that time, the opponent he had never lost to, was going to claim his eventual victory.
Or, perhaps it was all just a mirage: The NBA’s all-time leading scorer and one of its best players were still lurking, waiting for the moment to strike.
“He’s dominated the game,” Redick said.
And he continues to demonstrate how he has done it.
On Wednesday, James did his best to lead the Lakers to a 128-123 victory over Memphis.
When the offense cooled, he scored. When the ball bounced off the rim, he corralled it. And when a teammate opened up, he found it.
James scored 35 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and had 14 assists. his third consecutive triple-double – all of which led to victories for the Lakers inside their home stadium.
It is the fourth time in his career with consecutive triple-doubles. Among the 11 oldest players to ever have a game with a triple-double, James has 10 of them.
“I just have a lot of patience and take what the defense gives me,” James said about this stretch. “I’ve been doing it for a while. So I understand time and punctuation. I understand the waves and changes of the game. So it’s nothing new to me.”
Wednesday’s heroics came when the Lakers blew an early 15-point lead while their leading scorer, Anthony Davis, was hampered by foul trouble and was largely ineffective.
Read more: Spurs coach Gregg Popovich suffered a stroke and is expected to make a full recovery
Through it all, James was fantastic, keeping the Lakers engaged and in the game even when the game faltered.
The Lakers, who had two days off to prepare for the Grizzlies, attacked Memphis early, playing like a team looking to bounce back after losing at Tennessee last week.
The ball bounced from one side to the other, and the Lakers created open three-pointers with precise passes, hard cuts and collision screens.
They corrected many of their defensive issues, ran back in transition and cleaned up Memphis’ mistakes on the glass.
And then it stopped.
Everything the Lakers did well in the opening minutes Wednesday quickly changed as the team’s energy evaporated and its intentions gave way to bad habits.
Even though the Grizzlies were without their starting defensemen, Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, Memphis cooked up the Lakers’ defense in a way that made strong performances in their last two games look like anomalies.
Led by Jaren Jackson Jr., the only member of the Grizzlies’ big three who was healthy, Memphis outscored the Lakers 70-53 in the second and third quarters as the Lakers did little more than half-heartedly hit the ball and draw fouls. lazy .
But the Lakers held firm, thanks to James, Rui Hachimura and rookie Dalton Knecht, who scored a career-high 19 points while making all five of his three-point shots.
Knecht and Hachimura combined to shoot 13 of 15 from the field for 38 points.
“I trust in my opportunity and work on it every day. And my teammates know it and want me to continue throwing the ball every game,” Knecht said. “They always look for me. And JJ has a lot of confidence in me, he always calls my number and makes plays for me. “I’m just going to go out there with confidence and not just try to shoot the ball, but find my teammates and then play defense and rebound.”
Read more: Bronny James makes his G League debut with LeBron and Anthony Davis watching
And after Davis returned to the game with five fouls midway through the quarter, he hit a pair of clutch three-pointers to push the Lakers across the tape to their sixth straight home win to start the season.
It is their best start to a year inside their building since 2010. In the 1988-89 season, the Lakers began the year with 17 consecutive wins at home.
The Lakers begin NBA Cup group play Friday in San Antonio against the Spurs.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter on all things Lakers.
This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.