Lakers News: Resilient LeBron James Explains Decision To Play Through Illness

The Los Angeles Lakers may have fallen to the Golden State Warriors 134-120-X last night, but it wasn't the fault of All-Star combo forward LeBron James. The 20-time All-Star powered through a flu-like illness, showing up just an hour before tipoff time at Crypto.com Arena. He played 36 minutes, scoring 33 points, passing for 11 dimes, and pulling down seven rebounds. Nevertheless, the healthier Warriors won (LA was missing Anthony Davis and a litany of key reserves), improving to 44-35 on the year while dropping LA to 45-35.

Per Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times, James reflected postgame on his approach to suiting up just in the nick of time, after previously having sat out the team's eventual loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“Just tried to get as much rest as I could. Stay hydrated as much as I could, man. Give my team as much as I could today,” James said. “I came in Sunday for my normal prep day for the Minnesota game and it started to get worse as the minutes went down. So I just went home. And pretty much today was like one of the first days I was able to get out of the room, get out of the bed and feel a little bit of energy.”