LeBron James didn’t take too much time to have his impact felt in Los Angeles. In his first game in a Lakers uniform he put on a dunk show for the ages in Portland, but after two games he still didn’t have a win and he needed that signature moment. A shot that would remind everybody, oh right, this is LeBron James the greatest basketball player in the world and he’ll always do what he wants when he wants.
Monday night against the Spurs, James did just that. With San Antonio controlling most of the game, but barely holding on to their lead, James took the ball with time winding down. He calmly walked up the court and assessed the situation. The conclusion James reached? Just fire and shoot. Bang. Tie game.
LEBRON = CLUTCH#LakeShow pic.twitter.com/w75wNFoMkq
— NBA TV (@NBATV) October 23, 2018
What’s funny about this shot is that James, by his standards, hasn’t exactly been great. Prior to the final minutes of the Spurs game he was 2-for-16 from three-point range through three games. He’s look disengaged at times and struggled to impact the game in the same ways he usually does. If the Lakers had decided to ride the hot hand here then they would have gone to the young Kyle Kuzma. He had 37 points at the end of regulation, but everybody knew that James was going to take this shot.
James has set a tone for the season in his new location. It doesn’t matter how he plays, or whatever anybody else around him does. He’s going to take that shot and the other team is going to be scared the entire time he has the ball in his hands because at any moment James can just fire away and change everything.
