LeBron James, now in his 15th season in the league, is still extremely good at basketball. He’s also incredibly clutch, despite the narrative about him that dominated the first half of his career.
This year, James’ late game scoring has been otherworldly. He’s shooting 59.2 percent from the field in the final five minutes of games when the Cavs lead or trail by five or fewer points. He’s scoring 5.4 points per game in those situations in 14 games, meaning he’s scoring more than a point per minute in clutch situations.
It gets even more ridiculous when you tighten the scenario down to the final three minutes of a game when the Cavs lead or trail by five or fewer points. In those situations, he’s shooting 63.6 percent from the field and is scoring 4.2 points per game in those scenarios (13 games). So, in 33.8 minutes in that situation, James has scored 54 points. That’s absurd.
So, when the Cavs found themselves in a tight game on Wednesday night against the Kings, it should come as no surprise that the dagger came courtesy of LeBron James on a three-pointer with under 15 seconds to play.
It's in his DNA. #AllForOne https://t.co/6jZgxunJbX
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) December 7, 2017
The result was no surprise, as James buried the three and the Kings in that moment. How the Cavs got to that moment involved James demanding the ball in the huddle and also telling Ty Lue what play he wanted to run, as Lue told reporters after the gave, per Joe Vardon of cleveland.com.
“Was going to run a different play and then Bron said, ‘I want Chicago.’ So I said, ‘OK,'” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “We got it to him and he made a big shot. That was a huge play for us to put us up five.”
Based on the video, we can assume “Chicago” is a play to get James isolated on the wing with the rest of the Cavs loaded up on the weakside of the floor to create as much space as possible for LeBron to go to work. In this instance, that was a stepback dagger.
Kyle Korver went into more detail about the huddle that led to that play call and James’ game-sealing three, and said LeBron was “demanding” he get the ball in that situation to ensure the win, via Vardon.
“He’s just demanding the ball,” Kyle Korver added. “He’s like ‘give me the ball, we’re about to win.’ And, I’ve been around some guys who’ve had amazing years. I’ve been playing with him, and Derrick (Rose) when he was MVP. Allen Iverson when I was young. Guys who could just, man, amazing. But he’s taken this to a whole new level.”
No one is going to question James in that situation. Not his teammates. Not Ty Lue. And none of them should. This isn’t an issue of Lue ceding power to James, but simply understanding that when you have LeBron, you’re usually better off doing what he wants in that kind of situation. He’s earned that right and his basketball IQ is as trustworthy as any coach in the league, so when he wants a play, you’re probably best off giving him that play.
Against the Kings it paid off as James’ clutch three lifted the Cavs to a 13th consecutive win.
