LeBron James stars as LA Lakers beat Houston Rockets to host Oklahoma City Thunder

LeBron James scored 28 points as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets.

James added seven rebounds and eight rebounds to help the Lakers to a 98-78 victory, a 4-2 series win over the Rockets.

The Lakers led the series 3-0 and finally closed out the best-of-seven series away at Houston, led by leading scorer Amen Thompson with 18 points.

“A lot of our guys, really, haven’t been in this position, haven’t been close, especially on the road, so it was important for me to go out and set the tone,” said 41-year-old James.

Lakers coach JJ Redick was full of praise for James, who became the first player to play in 23 consecutive NBA seasons and is the league’s record scorer.

“To me, he had the best career of any NBA player,” Redick said. “You can argue all you want, I don’t care who is the greatest of all time.

“He’s one of the all-time greats, and for him to do it again and ring it again, it’s confusing in some ways.”

The Lakers face a tough task against the Thunder, who hold the top spot in the Western Conference and secured a 4-0 series win over the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the NBA play-offs.

The first game of their best-of-seven series is Tuesday in Oklahoma.