LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers blew out the Golden State Warriors on Christmas night, 127-101, but the win was bittersweet. Despite the big win, which moved the Lakers closer to the top of the Western Conference, the future looks scary. LeBron went down in the third quarter with a strained left groin and departed the court, heading straight to the locker room. He never returned.

LeBron injury update

According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, an initial examination on LeBron James injury indicates that all is intact and there is a slight groin strain.

The report is that it could have been worse.

LeBron was also in an upbeat mood after the game, joking with reporters. When asked about the game, he said he wasn't involved in the preparation of the game since he doesn't have enough experience playing the Golden State Warriors to give his opinions.

LeBron James also told ESPN that the muscle is intact and he is not ruling out returning to play the Sacramento Kings on Thursday night. There is an MRI scheduled on Wednesday that will show how plausible a quick return is.

Josh Hart spoke to reporters after the game and said that he understands all the news will be about the LeBron James injury but he didn't seem too concerned after the big win. Hart said that it's not just "LeBron and the Lakers." He said that the team has a lot of good players and if James is down, there will be others to stop up.

As he said, no one on the Los Angeles Lakers team is afraid of the spotlight.

Warriors vs. Lakers notes

The Los Angeles Lakers were winning by 14 points when LeBron James injury occurred and then they ended up winning by 26 points. This is even more impressive since after LeBron went down and Stephen Curry hit consecutive threes to put the game within two but the Lakers bench stepped up and ran away with the win.

It was tough on the Warriors, as Draymond Green took the blame and said that he "f'd" up when he hit five personal fouls early.

The win on Christmas was the first time that the Los Angeles Lakers have beaten the Golden State Warriors in Oakland since 2012 -- six very long years ago for Lakers' faithful.

That was an 11-game losing streak broken in this game.

Ivica Zubac finished with a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds while veteran Rajon Rondo scored 15 points and 10 assists on the Los Angeles Lakers' second unit. Kyle Kuzma scored 19 points, LeBron had 17 when he left the game, Brandon Ingram scored 14, Lance Stephenson finished with 11 and Josh Hart scored 12.

The Los Angeles Lakers will hope to get LeBron James back soon but they have three games in the next five days, with a road trip to Sacramento and then home games against the Clippers and Kings.
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