L.A.’s LeBron James has said he wants to own an NBA team there. There was a time in the NBA’s regular season when he could feel what it was like.

Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 133–89 to make it to the championship game against the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers beat the Milwaukee Bucks hours earlier to keep up their surprising run in the first game.

The second game looked like it was going to be another close one until James showed why so many people are still debating whether he’s the best player of all time. At age 38, he scored 18 points in the second quarter by making 6 of 8 shots (3 of 3 from 3-point range). The Lakers went from being behind by one point to being ahead by 13 at halftime.

There was even more death in the third quarter. Even though people thought the in-season tournament would feel like the playoffs, it wasn’t even close to being a real basketball game. The Lakers went on runs of 7–0, 14-0, and 8–0 to take a 110–71 lead into the fourth quarter.

For the last 17 minutes of the game, James didn’t try to stay in uniform. In just 23 minutes, he scored 30 points on 9-of-12 shooting (4-of-4 from deep), had eight assists, five rebounds, no mistakes, and the best rating on the team (+36). Five other Lakers players had scored ten or more points by the start of the fourth quarter.