LeBron James scores 50 to rally Los Angeles Lakers past Wizards in 'epic performance'

LOS ANGELES — LeBron James continues to redefine the standard for what a star is capable of at such a late stage of his career.

James, 37, scored 50 points for the second time in his past three games in lifting the Lakers to a much-needed 122-109 win over the Washington Wizards on Friday.

The win came six days after James scored 56 against the Golden State Warriors, which was also a victory for L.A. The rub, of course, is that while the Lakers are 2-0 since the All-Star break when James goes for 50-plus points, they're 0-6 in the rest of their games and are still only No. 9 in the Western Conference at 29-37.

In a season when the Lakers haven't given fans much of a reason to want to pay for tickets to see them, James received a rare «MVP! MVP!» chant from a sellout crowd at Crypto.com Arena. He said he appreciated the reception, considering how often boos have been heard in the building.

«Listen, the Laker faithful knows when bad basketball is being played and they know when good basketball is being played. They have the right to have any response they want,» James said. «They've seen so many great teams, so many great individuals.… So for me, being a part of this franchise, I feel like I just try to give them an opportunity to have memorable nights as well.

»Try to give them something to cheer for, give them something to feel good about on a nightly basis, and I know it hasn't been as great as they would like for it to be this year, but you take the small wins when they come."

L.A. appeared to be heading toward another loss, down by nine early on in the third quarter, when James got red-hot. Midway through the period, in a stretch that took less than two minutes of gametime, he scored 12 straight points for the Lakers