LeBron James and the Lakers may have taken a huge win over the Clippers, but it didn’t come without its fair share of anxious moments.

Lakers' LeBron James looking afraid, with Clippers' Norman Powell looking disappointed

The Los Angeles Lakers came into their Sunday night matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers with major issues behind the scenes and an even more problematic trend of performances on the hardwood.

Alas, LeBron James and Anthony Davis always turn up whenever their backs are against the wall. On Sunday night, the Lakers turned in one of its most inspired performances of the season, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, taking home a 106-103 win over the Clippers in the end.

Alas, the win did not come without its fair share of heart-stopping moments. After Austin Reaves missed a free throw to keep the Clippers within three points with around four seconds to go in the game, the Lakers opted not to foul to protect their lead. This could have been a smart decision, as the Clippers did not have any timeouts left.

Instead, the Lakers allowed Norman Powell, someone who’s been on a heater as of late who made multiple huge triples in the fourth quarter, to hoist up a triple that would have sent the game to overtime had it gone in.

It looked good out of Powell’s hands; the Lakers will be thanking their lucky stars that it went in and out, with LeBron James even breathing a huge sigh of relief after seeing the shot fail to tickle the twine completely.

“It looked like it was good for sure. It was right on line. I definitely thought it was overtime again,” James told reporters after the game, per Mark Medina of Spectrum SportsNet.

While intentionally fouling the Clippers could have prevented this anxiety-inducing scenario, the Lakers simply chose to play the percentages.

After all, if the Clippers made two freebies, LeBron James wisely pointed out that the Lakers would have had to inbound the ball underneath the opposing basket — and they themselves had no timeouts left.

“If we have one timeout, then I will say, ‘You know, let’s probably take a foul. We can advance the ball. They have no more timeouts, it’s gonna take a lot of time.’ But that last play was a little tricky,” James added.

There’s no more need to elaborate further, as the Lakers ended up making the right decision in the end as they saw Norman Powell miss the three-ball. But LeBron James knows that they better not get themselves in a similar situation next time, as the chips may no longer fall too kindly in their favor.