In the third quarter of the G3 game between the Lakers and Nuggets, James finally broke his Western Conference finals three-point drought! In the face of another wave of momentum from the Nuggets, he hit two consecutive three-pointers in the bottom right corner and 45 degrees on the right to help the Lakers close the gap.
Just when everyone thought James had found himself and could help the Lakers turn the tide in the final quarter, he didn't step up this time.
Throughout the final quarter, James tried four three-point shots, but only hit one shot in the bottom right corner, and all three arc shots were ironed.
In the final quarter, 7 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, seemingly comprehensive and efficient, but in fact only 2 of 6 shots. Before the final whistle sounded, James left the court early.
The Lakers trailed the Nuggets 3-0.
We all know what that number means, and in NBA history, no team has ever staged a big comeback when trailing 3-0, and James himself is in this record, he has faced 3-0 down three times before, and his answer is: twice swept and once swept by a gentleman.
There is no need to say much about the ending of the Lakers.
But there is a question that has always been in the minds of fans and the media: Why is the once omnipotent James not working this year?
Even in key moments of the game, James often became the player who dropped the chain. In fact, all questions about everything can be answered in the data.
Against the Timberwolves in the play-offs, James chipped in 30 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. But in the final quarter, James scored 3 points on 1-of-4 shooting, and 0-of-1 from overtime. That said, 27 of James' 30 points came in the first three quarters.
Let's take a look at James' first-round game against the Grizzlies.
G1 Late Quarter: 3 points and 1 rebound on 1-of-1 shooting, 1-of-1 three-point shooting, no free throws;
G2 Late Quarter: 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists on 4-of-7 shooting, 0-of-2 three-pointers, no free throws;
G3 Final: 6 points and 3 rebounds on 1-of-5 shooting, 0-of-1 three-point shooting, 4-of-5 free throws;
G4 Final: 2 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists on 1-of-6 shooting, 0-of-2 three-pointers, no free throws;
G4 overtime: 4 points and 2 rebounds on 2-of-3 shooting, 0-of-1 three-point range, 0-of-1 free throws;
G5 Late Quarter: 0 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists on 0-of-5 shooting, 0-of-4 three-pointers, no free throws;
G6 did not appear in the final quarter.
Throughout the series, James averaged just 4.6 points in the final quarter, shooting just 33 percent from the field, shooting 1 of 11 from three-point range for 9 percent and averaging one free throw per game.
Watch James face the Warriors in the second round.
G1 Final: 7 points and 5 rebounds on 3-of-10 shooting, 0-of-3 from three-point range, 1-of-2 free throws;
G2 did not appear in the final quarter;
G3 only played one round in the final quarter and is not counted in the statistics.
G4 Finals: 6 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists on 1-of-3 shooting, 0-of-1 three-point shooting, 4-of-4 free throws,
G5 Final: 4 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists on 2-of-3 shooting, 0-of-1 three-point shooting, no free throws;
G6 Late Quarter: 1 of 1 for 5 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, no three-point shots, 3 of 5 free throws;
Throughout the series, James averaged 5.5 points and shot just 41.1 percent from the field and 0 of 5 from three-point range and averaged 2.7 free throws per game in the final quarter of the four games.
Watch James West face the Nuggets.
G1 Final: 1-of-4 for 7 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, 0-of-2 from three-point range, 5-of-7 from the free throw line;
G2 final quarter: 3-of-7 for 6 points, 1 rebound and 3 assists, 0-of-3 from three-point range, no free throws;
G3 Finals: 7 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists on 2-of-6 shooting, 1-of-4 three-pointers, 2-of-3 free throws;
Throughout the series so far, James is averaging 6.7 points and shooting just 35.3 percent from the field and 1 of 9 from three-point range for 3.3 free throws per game.
From the intuitive feeling of the game, James' efficiency in the final quarter may be worse than the data suggests. I say this because data has a certain deceptive nature. For example, in the G2 game against the Nuggets, James had a debatable shooting option when the Lakers trailed by six points with 24 seconds left, but James opted for an unguarded layup instead of the three-point shot that the team needed more.
Regarding the above data, you can break down three points to talk about.
Overall shooting percentage: In this year's playoffs, James shot 48.9 percent from the field, which is even more than his last playoff appearance. However, as shown above, in the three-round series so far, James has shot only 33%, 41.1%, and 35.3% in the final quarter, respectively.
Three-pointers: We all know that James' three-point level in this playoffs is really worrying, averaging 1.6 of 6.6 shots per game and shooting 24.2% from three-point range. In the final quarter, James' three-point shooting accounted for the highest percentage of the game in the four quarters, averaging 2.1 shots per game, but only hitting two in total.
Free throws: James averaged 5.7 free throws per game in the playoffs this year, but only averaged 1.7 at the free throw line in the final quarter. Combined with James' playing time per quarter, this number does fit the pattern of close to a quarter. But we all know that in the fierce playoffs, it is an objective law for superstars to increase the proportion of free throws in the final quarter. There is no need to even look at the data about this, James' past playoff performances are still etched in our hearts.
The overall shooting percentage has dropped significantly, with more three-point shots and not many free throws. The data is here, and all the clues point very clearly to one point, which is physical fitness.
Although every point James has scored on the court today is in new history, and he has also used his performance to give us expectations again and again. But without any ridicule, James is 38 years and 5 months old this year, and his decline is a 100% objective natural law that no one can irresist.
In this year's playoffs, James averaged 38.5 minutes per game, ranking 20th among all players in the league, while 10 of the 19 players who ranked higher than him were out in the first round, including Mitchell, and 5 including Durant fell in the semifinals. Of the remaining players, only Tatum, Butler, Murray and Jokic are averaging more minutes per game than James. And if you count the number of games, only Tatum has played more minutes than James.
Before the start of the season, James had filmed an ad with "Old Man Time", and he was full of energy to PK with the other party.
However, in the duel with the Real Time Old Man, despite James' repeated postponement of his curtain call, he slowly went downhill.
So in this year's playoffs, although the Lakers have gone far enough, the James we want to see save the game may not be seen again.
In the 2007 Cavaliers and Pistons, James scored 25 consecutive points in the final quarter to lead the team to victory. The game is still talked about today, and James was only 23 years old at the time.
Such a great moment is destined to belong only to the spirited James. Expect the now 38-year-old to save the Lakers again in a time of crisis? We may be really too hard for him.