LeBron played 45 minutes in Game 3

LeBron James logged more than 45 minutes in the Lakers’ 112-108 overtime win over the Houston Rockets in Game 3 on April 24. (espn.com) The 41-year-old finished with 29 points, 13 rebounds and six assists as Los Angeles erased a six-point deficit in the final 30 seconds of regulation. (espn.com) (nba.com) James tied the game with a 3-pointer with 13.6 seconds left, and Marcus Smart scored eight of the Lakers’ 11 overtime points. (nba.com) (espn.com) The workload came with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves out for Los Angeles, leaving James to carry a bigger share of the offense and late-game creation. (espn.com) James said after the game that “everyone has to do a little bit more” because of the players the Lakers were missing. (espn.com) Game 3 also put Houston on the edge of elimination, because no team in National Basketball Association history has come back from a 3-0 series deficit. (nba.com) The series context is messier than the highlight clips suggest. Luke Kennard’s perfect 5-for-5 from 3-point range happened in Game 1 on April 18, when he scored 27 points in a 107-98 Lakers win. (nba.com) (espn.com) Kennard did not repeat that shooting line in Game 4; he scored seven points and went 0-for-3 from deep in Houston’s 115-96 win on April 26. (nba.com) (espn.com) Houston’s Game 4 response cut the Lakers’ series lead to 3-1 before Game 5 in Los Angeles on April 29. (nba.com 1) (nba.com 2) So the clearest takeaway is not a generic endurance reel. It is that James played more than 45 minutes in a pivotal Game 3 comeback, and the Lakers still needed another win after Houston avoided the sweep two nights later. (espn.com) (nba.com)