As the calendar turned over to 2023, the Los Angeles Lakers were in dire need of some wins in bunches about two weeks after Anthony Davis went down with a right foot stress injury.
It was about this time that LeBron James decided to turn things up by a couple of gears.
After starting the season off somewhat slow (by his standards), he averaged 31.2 points a game in December, which was punctuated by a 47-point effort on Dec. 30, his 38th birthday, versus the Atlanta Hawks.
On Jan.