On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers crawled back from a 21-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 116-112.

The Lakers’s frontman Lebron James took over in the final 12 minutes and outshined all others on the floor. James finished the quarter with 19 points, outsourcing the Clipper’s team by himself who only scored 16. In just 7:34, the Lakers went on a 29-8 run. 

Going into the quarter 77-96, the Lakers were not looking to give up. And with four minutes to play, Anthony Davis sank two free throws to tie the game at 106. Moments later, James found Rui Hachimura down the court for a three, and the Lakers never looked back. 

The 39-year-old was in the center of it all, and either scored or assisted on 11 out of the Laker’s 13 final baskets. With his season-high seven three-pointers, James’ final stat line read an impressive 34 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks. 

The Lakers, who sit 9th in the Western Conference standings with a record of 32-28, did not sit as the probable winner for Wednesday night’s game. In fact, earlier this week prior to the game, Stephen A. Smith told Shannon Sharpe “The Clippers were going to bust the Lakers' ass.” 

Thursday morning, however, Smith came out with an apology on First Take for James: “I don’t do this often, I really, really don’t. But I owe LeBron James an apology. I just do.”

Smith went on to compliment James further’ “To watch him drilling those threes, to know he’s in his 21st season, he’s 39 years of age… to see this brother do what he did last night…when it counted most he was absolutely spectacular.”

In the coming week, the Lakers hold a home-court advantage for the next six games, hosting tough teams including the Thunder, Nuggets, Bucks, and Kings.  

As Lebron James’ and the Laker’s confidence is at a high, the team and its fans are hopeful to stay in the win column, and slowly crawl up in the standings.