Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James, fueled by 'desperation,' drops 56 in comeback win over Warriors

LOS ANGELES — Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors played the foil in the most notable bounceback of LeBron James' career back in the 2016 NBA Finals. On Saturday, they were subjected to another classic «desperation» performance by James.

James scored 56 points, his highest-scoring game ever with the Los Angeles Lakers and tied for third-highest in his 19-year career, and L.A. rallied from a 14-point deficit to win 124-116.

The Lakers, whose grasp on even a play-in tournament berth has become precarious as they've tumbled down the standings, snapped a four-game losing streak with Saturday's win, in which James set a slew of records.

«Our guys were following me off the floor tonight going into the locker room and they asked me, 'How does it feel to score 56?' I said, 'Right now, I don't give a damn about the 56. I'm just happy we got a win,'» James said. «That's just literally the first thing that came to my mind.»

James hadn't even finished his postgame on-court interview with ESPN's Lisa Salters before being doused with water bottles by Stanley Johnson and Kent Bazemore, the first time in a while the team has had a reason to celebrate.

Asked to describe the night, James told Salters his effort as well as the Lakers' were fueled by «desperation.» He added his team played «inspired» and he was pleased to have it play out at Crypto.com Arena before L.A. goes on the road to play 10 of their next 13 games the rest of the month.

«For us to get a win like this in front of our home fans, they deserve it,» James said. «We haven't been playing like much of anything as of late, so it was good to get a win in front of them.»

The win still only brought the Lakers' record to 28-35, leaving them in ninth place in the Western