The 2018-19 NBA regular season finished Wednesday with 13 games. LeBron James came back to Cleveland and took a win for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Cavaliers 109-105. Vince Carter put down another milestone in his career by passing 25,000 points.
James returns home to claim victory
LeBron James scores 32 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists to help the Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 109-105. /VCG Photo
This was the first time for James to come back to the Quicken Loans Arena in the Lakers' jersey. Unlike the last time he returned here with the Miami Heat eight years ago, fans welcomed him with cheers and applause instead of booing and abuse.
The Cavaliers even played a video of James' career highlights, showing their respect to the man who brought the team their first and only NBA Final Championship.
The Lakers seemed unable to pay 100 percent attention to the game, especially in defense, and hence left many openings for the home team to exploit.
With multiple young faces in their squad, Cleveland were actually the leading side for most of the game until the last three minutes, when James helped the Lakers regain the lead (102-99) with a three-pointer and three free throws.
The Cavaliers decide to use this season to let their younger players adapt to the NBA. /VCG Photo
In the end, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope sealed the win for LA with four straight free throws made while the Cavaliers had to accept their third loss in a row.
Cleveland at the beginning of the season declared that the team were able to enter the playoffs but soon realized how cruel reality is with six consecutive losses.
Having fired Tyronn Lue, the team made up their mind to leave this season for the youngsters to understand more and adapt themselves to NBA. They even removed Jr. Smith (33 years old) from the court and looked for deals over Kyle Korver (37 years old).
Vince Carter and his 25,001 points
Vince Carter, nicknamed "Air Canada" and "Half-Man, Half-Amazing" is still playing at the age of 41. /VCG Photo
The Atlanta Hawks lost their ninth straight game at the Philips Arena 108-124 to the Toronto Raptors. Though Kawhi Leonard missed the game, Kyle Lowry dropped 21 points, 12 rebounds and 17 assists (season high) to achieve his first triple double of the season, helping his team win their third straight game.
As for the Hawks, the overall fifth pick Trae Young was totally lost and made only two shots out of six attempts to score six points.
Jeremy Lin put down a season-high 26 points. However, the moment that really added extra meaning to this game happened in the last second when 41-year-old Vince Carter floated again to finish a two-hand dunk and score the 25,001st point in his career.
Carter #15 scores his 25,001st point with a two-hand dunk. /VCG Photo
After that dunk, the audience in the arena stood up, cheering and applauding the veteran who is playing his 21st season.
Carter, nicknamed "Air Canada," and "Half-Man, Half-Amazing," became the 22nd NBA player in history and the fourth of those who are still playing to score more than 25,000 points.
Having been an icon of the slam dunk and referred to as one of the "Four SGs (shooting guard)" together with Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady by Chinese fans, Carter was expected to have the shortest career because of his playing style. However, after the league said goodbye to Iverson, T-Mac and Bryant, Carter is still playing.
Warriors suffer first four straight losses under Steve Kerr
The Golden State Warriors at home lose to the Oklahoma City Thunder 95-123. /VCG Photo
The Golden State Warriors continued their disappointing performance as they lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder by 28 points (95-123) at home. Dennis Schroder made the biggest contribution to OKC's victory with the court's highest 32 points, including 5/6 for three-pointers.
Russell Westbrook took another triple double of 11 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists. Steven Adams dominated the paint area with 20 points and 11 rebounds. As for the Warriors, though Kevin Durant put down 27 points and 14 rebounds, his could not help the team with his performance as the Thunder cut his connection with the rest of the team.
More and more teams have realized that by forcing Durant to score by himself in the most difficult way possible, it won't be a difficult take to defeat today's Golden State.
Kevin Durant #35 needs to figure out how to help his team win instead of performing alone. /VCG Photo
The loss on Wednesday marked the fourth loss in a row for the defending champions and it is their longest straight losing record since Steve Kerr took over as head coach.
Though the Warriors must have foreseen the difficult situation without Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, the team still need to find a solution since no team can afford to be careless in the Western Conference.
Bad news for OKC was that they lost two young players, Terrance Ferguson and Hamidou Diallo to injuries during the game. The latter was carried out of the court on a stretcher afterwards.
Other games on Wednesday included: (away teams come first)
Anthony Davis passes 10,000 points in his career but has to see the New Orleans Pelicans lose 120-121 to the Philadelphia 76ers. /VCG Photo
Indiana Pacers 109-127 Charlotte Hornets
New Orleans Pelicans 120-121 Philadelphia 76ers
New York Knicks 117-109 Boston Celtics
Phoenix Suns 116-124 Chicago Bulls
Detroit Pistons 124-126 Houston Rockets
Portland Trail Blazers 100-143 Milwaukee Bucks
Denver Nuggets 103-101 Minnesota Timberwolves
Brooklyn Nets 113-119 Dallas Mavericks
Memphis Grizzlies 104-103 San Antonio Spurs
Sacramento Kings 119-110 Utah Jazz