LeBron James pulled off an amazing series victory against the Memphis Grizzlies last night. Coming into this season there were a lot of questions that the Los Angeles Lakers needed to answer. They had a terrible start to the season despite hiring Darvin Ham as their new head coach. LA struggled with injured players and could barely maintain good leads either. During the trade deadline, they traded Russell Westbrook.
As a result of the trade, they acquired D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, and even Dennis Schröder. With all this new talent on the roster, all that was left was for their star players to stay healthy. Going up against the Memphis Grizzlies, it was seen as a tough matchup. Memphis was the second seed in the West while the Lakers were the seventh.
Ja Morant struggled with a hand injury which severely affected the Grizzlies’ form. LA capitalized on Memphis’ lacking and took over. The Lakers won the series 4-2. In Game 6, LA’s roster took equal efforts to win. Present at the arena was Kyrie Irving, LeBron James’ former teammate. Fans were nostalgic about seeing both of them shake hands. “Damn this one hit me in the feels,” said one fan. Here are a few other reactions.
Damn this one hit me in the feels
— Sir Yacht (@SirYacht_) April 29, 2023
Time to run it back
— Blev // Blevishkin (@Blevishkin) April 29, 2023
Brothers 🫶💯
— Jamal (@Gibbo_2010) April 29, 2023
Unlike James, Kyrie and the Dallas Mavericks were eliminated from the playoffs. The Mavs were a serious contender earlier in the season with Luka Doncic leading the way. However, they let go of a few important pieces that took a massive toll on their chances of making it to the playoffs. With under five games left in the regular season, the Mavs were eliminated.
The history between LeBron James and Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving was drafted back in 2011 by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was lucky to be chosen to play alongside LeBron James, arguably the greatest of all time. Together they had a very successful run going to the finals four times. In 2016, they won the NBA Championship in a historic run against the Golden State Warriors. Irving would slowly start branching off since then.
In 2017, Kyrie decided that he wanted out of Cleveland as he felt overshadowed by James. Bron was being praised for his work and had historic seasons with the Cavs. He signed with the Boston Celtics and played with them for two seasons. Since then, Irving has not won a title but LeBron continued to be historically great.