LeBron James’ 10 best performances of the season
10. Helping LA to its first win of the season (10/25/19)
An opening-night loss to the LA Clippers had temporarily simmered if only a pinch of the optimism surrounding the debut of a Lakers team finally expected to compete for a championship.
The sky wasn’t falling, but the winning had to start somewhere. If not against their inner-city rivals, then the Utah Jazz would serve as the next challenge for LA to break into the win column several days later.
Utah possessed the second-best defense from a season ago but you couldn’t tell from the way LeBron James led the charge.
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James needed all of 30 minutes to put up 32 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds while shooting 12-of-22 from the field. He was a game-high plus-17 while committing just a single turnover in a 95-86 win.
He was unconvincing in the season-opener with just 18 points while Kawhi Leonard stole the show in a victory. But as the great leaders do, LeBron made sure to turn up the intensity in the following game and get the ball rolling on what he and the organization were hoping could be the start of a championship run.