The Los Angeles Lakers already rose 21 points to the Houston Rockets in the second quarter on Tuesday, when LeBron James increased the display of dominance to another, ridiculous level.
After catching a feed in the corner in front of the Lakers bench, James uses a pump false to set up a three-pointer when he hears a voice in his ear coming from behind him. It was Dennis Schroder, Lakers’ point guard.
“I told him to bet a Benjamin on it, so he shot it,” Schroder said after the 117-100 victory in LA. “Shoot it and turn around and say, ‘Bet. “Then it went in. This is just legendary. ‘
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LeBron James says Dennis Schroder bets he will not make a no-look 3 while shooting. He also addresses comparisons with Steph Curry’s triple points.
It wasn’t just making a 3 over Ben McLemore to double the Rockets ’score 48-24 that was memorable. That was the delivery. You see, James turns to Schroder to raise the $ 100 while the ball is still in the air.
“I grabbed the bet while I was still shooting the ball,” James said, finishing with 26 points as the Lakers improved their league-best record to 9-3. “A bet is not official before you look a man in the eye, so I had to look him in the eye, and I could win it.”
There is immediate appreciation for the performance by James’ teammates.
“He’s one of the greatest to play this game, and the things he does are always crazy to watch in real time,” Kyle Kuzma said.
In a sport where players are taught from an early age to follow their lap, something you do not see too much is what James did. Gilbert Arenas broke it out once on a Match 3 game. Former Lakers keeper Nick Young, who was famous, had a setback on him when he took out his shot. And Stephen Curry, considered the greatest shooter the game has ever known, will pull it off every now and then.
“Steph [has] “It’s definitely done the most in our league, and if you shoot the ball as beautifully and effortlessly and precisely as Steph, he has the ultimate, ultra-green light to do it,” James said of his former NBA Finals foe. . ” Because it comes in ten times out of nine times for Steph. ‘
And James, who is 4-for-9 from 3 on Tuesday and has broken the last two games from the depths of a 1-for-11 series, also has the green light. Whether it spins while the ball is in the middle of the fly or to pull up from the logo to make it fly, as he does more and more.
“We encourage him to skip the defense,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “There are several reasons for that: (A) he is probably the best shooter in our team. And (B) they play him softly. They go under screens on him … In terms of the ‘four-point series’ shots what he takes, he has a green light to take it, for he makes it. ‘
James’ no-look 3 made the free-fall Rockets look – now 3-6 after losing four of their last five – stupid.
“It does not feel good. Sure,” Houston coach Stephen Silas said. “Of course they are a group and they have fun at our expense. So it does not feel good at all, and we have to overcome it. It is as if they are dancing on our home court. We just have to fight. We have to fight through it.”
The Lakers ‘bench erupted after the shot went in, with several of James’ teammates chasing him off the field as he bounced back on defense. Vogel and James said part of the team’s mission this season is to rebuild the chemistry they helped carry to the championship last year. Such moments bring the group together.
“Everyone had fun,” Schroder said. “Everyone talked about it, even during time-outs. It was just a hell of a play.”
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.