LeBron James’ 10 best performances of the season

7. Spearheading a big win down in South Beach (12/13/19)

There’s a reason the Miami Heat have one of the best home-court advantages across the NBA, and it has nothing to do with the confines of American Airlines Arena.

South Beach is quite the location, and when players have the opportunity with some time between landing and tip-off, they like to take advantage, usually to the detriment of the task at hand.

Following a win in Orlando on Dec. 11, the Lakers had till the night of Dec. 13 before they played the Heat down in Miami. The combination of free time in a place like Miami along with a surging Heat team winners of three straight didn’t bode well for LA heading in, and that proved to be the case in the first half.

After 24 minutes of action, the Lakers headed into the break down eight. LeBron James was awful, shooting 4-of-11 with three assists to seven turnovers.

Few would blame LA for saving energy in the second of a five-game east coast trip, but James has made a concerted effort to have his team playing at a high level no matter the circumstance, and it showed in the second half.

The Lakers used a 37-26 third-quarter edge to eventually win by three points. LeBron served as the catalyst by scoring 17 points in the second half on 7-of-11 shooting with nine assists and one turnover.

It was looking like a classic schedule loss, the type experienced by plenty of opponents with time to spare in a large market.

In previous years where LeBron might have the long game in mind, that would usually end up the case. Instead, he further smashed his foot on the gas after he had every reason not to, and it resulted in one of LA’s best wins of the season.