Los Angeles Lakers: The stage is set for a vintage LeBron James moment

The stage is set for a vintage LeBron James moment.

Over the course of his career, there haven’t been too many times when LeBron James hasn’t come through for his teams in critical moments. In fact, you can probably count the times he’s fallen short in those instances over the course of his career on one hand.

Heading into Game 5 against the Phoenix Suns, with the first-round NBA Playoff series tied at 2-2, is another one of those opportunities for LeBron.

Considering that the Los Angeles Lakers will likely be without Anthony Davis in Game 5, if they’re going to come out victorious and take a stranglehold on the series, they’re going to need one of those vintage LeBron games.

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Those performances have helped build the legacy and aura around LeBron’s career; he’s going to need another one to help save the ailing defending champions. It’s something that Los Angeles has had to battle all season long. It’s unfortunate because just when it seemed as if the Lakers were finally healthy and beginning to hit its stride in the postseason, AD goes down with another injury (this time is a hamstring injury).

Even though this specific injury isn’t expected to keep him out of the lineup long, it’s something that could very well keep him out of Game 5. After the injury, there was “pessimism” that Davis would be ready to play in Game 5.

It’s unclear if that has changed much since that report, but even if Davis is available it’s unlikely that he’s going to be 100 percent. And for the Lakers to beat the Suns on the road, they’re going to need LeBron to step up in a big way.

Does LeBron James still have some vintage moments in him?

Question is, is that something that LeBron can dial-up? Not because LeBron is washed or that father time has caught him, but because of his recent injury? Since his return, you can make a case that LeBron is finally showing flashes of his pre-injury self.

So far in the playoffs, he hasn’t had that “vintage LeBron” moment yet. Through the first four games in this series, LeBron is 22 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds per game on 49 percent shooting from the field and 30 percent shooting from 3-point range.

LeBron has been solid in this series, but he’s going to need to dig deep into his bag of tricks to pull one out on the road against the Suns. He’s going to need to pull together the best game of the playoffs thus far and the Lakers are going to need it.

In the two games that the Lakers won in this series, they did so with Davis being absolutely unstoppable. He scored 34 points in Games 3 and 4, respectively. The Lakers won those games. If the Lakers are going to pull out Game 5, LeBron might need to score north of 30 points and he’s going to have to control the game on both ends of the floor.

Entering Game 5, the Lakers are in a far from ideal situation. They need LeBron to step up and in a big way. Perhaps it’s too much of an ask from a 36-year-old LeBron that is still not completely healed from a bad ankle injury.

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Nevertheless, the stage will be set. And, in the past when that has been the case, LeBron has (almost) always come through.

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