LeBron James persevered through an injured ankle, a big first-half deficit and being poked in the eye late in the fourth quarter to add another highlight to his impressive resume.
James hit the long, go-ahead three-pointer with 58.2 seconds remaining, rallying the Los Angeles Lakers to a 103-100 victory over the Golden State Warriors to secure a place in the NBA playoffs.
"After the finger to the eye, I was seeing three rims and shot at the middle one. By grace, I was able to knock it down,'' said James, who finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his sixth triple-double of the season.
"I've been poked in the eye before. It is going to be sore ... but we got a big-time win.''
James was poked by Draymond Green while driving to the basket with two minutes, seven seconds left in the game. But his 34-foot three-pointer over Stephen Curry as the shot clock was winding down proved decisive.
"He proved why he is the best player in the world,'' Lakers coach Frank Vogel said.
Anthony Davis scored 13 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter.
Curry, the league scoring champion, led the Warriors with 37 points.
Golden State had a chance to send it into overtime, but Kent Bazemore had a bad inbounds pass.
That sent the Lakers into the playoffs as the Western Conference seventh seeds. They will face the second-seeded Phoenix Suns in a best-of-seven, first-round matchup.
"He made a great shot," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of James. "We've played against him so many times over the years, we know how good LeBron is.''
The Warriors have another chance to reach the playoffs when they host the Memphis Grizzlies, who beat the San Antonio Spurs 100-96 in the other conference play-in game. The winner of that game tomorrow (HK time) will face conference top seeds Utah Jazz in the playoffs.
Dillon Brooks scored 24 points and Jonas Valanciunas added 23 points and 23 rebounds for the Grizzlies.
