LeBron James makes NBA history in 56-point outburst vs Warriors

LeBron James made NBA history on Saturday night in a 56-point outburst against the Golden State Warriors when his Lakers team needed it most.

The Lakers are struggling — it’s no secret. They’re quickly falling down the standings, in part thanks to Russell Westbrook, who fits this Lakers squad like a piece for the wrong puzzle.

Magic Johnson even went as far as to say the Westbrook trade is rapidly becoming the worst in Lakers history — and they have a lot of bad ones to show for. Heavy underdogs against a loaded Golden State Warriors team, the one factor no team can prepare for is a 37-year-old LeBron going off.

Now, sure, that sounds like a made-up stat. But this isn’t — James became just the third player to score 50 points over the age of 37, joining Michael Jordan and Jamal Crawford.

LeBron James comes up huge when Lakers need him most

The win only counts once, unfortunately. Los Angeles needs a string a few together to get their confidence back. However, James has been extra vocal of late about how he considers himself one of the best scorers in NBA history — which he is — and he doesn’t take kindly to not being mentioned in that conversation.

“It pisses me off,” James said. “I’m not like a natural scorer. I love getting my guys involved, I’ve always been that way.”

But that doesn’t mean he’s not capable. James had that look in his eye in primetime on Saturday night. It was winning time, and James was driven by “desperation,” as he put it postgame.

“Desperation. A four-game losing streak, our season has been up and down. I would say desperation and inspiration, we played inspired basketball against a really good team. We needed this win,” LeBron said, per Yahoo Sports.

Whatever works, at this juncture. With the win, the Lakers improved to 28-35, just three games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers for a spot in the play-in tournament.