With 18.3 seconds left in the game and the Lakers trailing by one point at 102-103, at this time, how should the Lakers operate to win the game? Michael Jordan had a similar situation in 1998, when with about 20 seconds left in Game 6 of the Finals, he completed a steal against Carl Malone, then advanced to the front with the ball, and after all his teammates had opened up space, Jordan finished shooting against Byron Russell's defense to help the Bulls overtake the score and finally win the sixth championship trophy.
In fact, Jordan's approach is not advisable. Teams that are one point behind will choose a quick two-pointer, and even if they can't complete the score, they can practice foul tactics, betting that the opponent will have problems with the free throws or that they can hit the equalizing three-pointer. Jordan is Jordan after all, and he has enough confidence to hit the shot, so he chose to press the time. As a result, he really did. James also wanted to squeeze time, but unfortunately he failed to complete the shot, and as he dribbled and consumed time, the Clippers gradually completed the bag, and finally James passed the ball to Carmelo Anthony, who failed to hit the far three-pointer.
James had plenty of time to complete a single before the Clippers formed a bag, and while he was defending a great defender like Robert Covington, it wasn't too difficult for James to complete a single and shoot. In the NBA, there are many choices at key moments, and we usually see such a situation: the star holds the ball, swings a big hand to let his teammates open up the space, and then completes a shot. Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Damian Lillard and others have all had such shots. But in James, such a situation is rare.
James is a team player, which is the perception of many people, and attracting the bag at the last moment and passing it to his teammates seems to be the perfectly correct choice, but behind this is the embodiment of James's slight lack of singles ability. Not to mention facing a defender of Covington's level, even facing a relatively short defender, James may not be able to complete a single, because his face frame singles efficiency is really not good enough.
In the 41 games prior to the Clippers, James had a total of 169 rounds of framed singles, and he completed a total of 145 shots and 62 hits, hitting 42.8 percent of the range. Compared with Kevin Durant, Demar DeRozan and others' 50% + face frame single shooting rate, James's face frame singles are indeed a bit unhandled, that is, in the Lakers, James's face frame singles are not the best one. Westbrook had 204 rounds of his first 57 games as a frame singles hit 72 of his 156 shots, or 46.2 percent from the field; Anthony had 51 rounds of his first 50 games in his face frame singles, hitting 20 of his 46 shots, hitting 43.5 percent of the way. On the face frame singles, Westbrook and Anthony both have better shooting percentages than James, although the advantage is not obvious enough.
Key balls do need to be handled by core players. James didn't handle key balls too well in the game against the Clippers, and it wasn't without reason to be questioned about throwing the pot, after all, he had plenty of time to complete the shot before the bag clip. It seems that Frank Vogel is a bit of a misstep, it is better to let Westbrook or Anthony handle the ball directly, after all, the Lakers are one point behind at that time, and Westbrook's impact on the basket or Anthony's mid-range jump shot may have a different result. And giving it to James is actually a relatively mediocre move.
Text/Duncan's laugh