For any haters who claim that LeBron James isn't clutch, you might wanna show them the numbers. The Los Angeles Lakers star has the second most final-minute clutch shots in NBA history, behind who else but Kobe Bryant.
With his latest go-ahead bucket to beat the Golden State Warriors, King James now has 97 such shots, just four shy of Lakers icon Kobe Bryant's all-time NBA mark.
After the clutch 3 from @KingJames that beat Golden State, he has 97 career game-tying or go-ahead shots in the final minute, trailing only @kobebryant’s 101.
[via @ESPNStatsInfo]
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) May 20, 2021
If you ask LeBron himself, he'd tell you that one shot should've counted for three, as he supposedly was having triple vision from the ill-effects of a Draymond Green poke to the eye earlier in the game.
Article Continues Below“After Draymond’s finger to the eye, I was literally seeing three rims out there. I just shot for the middle one,” the Lakers star said during his postgame interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols.
LeBron's buzzer-beater proved to be the game-winner 😮 pic.twitter.com/xFcO1GWy9K
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 20, 2021
Blurry vision or not, that shot was still an insanely clutch one from LeBron James. He drilled a 35-footer in the face of Stephen Curry of all people, the man who mastered that long-range bomb.
Thanks to LeBron James' heroics, the Lakers have locked in their playoff berth as the seventh seed against the second seed Phoenix Suns. Despite not having home-court the Lakers are still seen as heavy favorites to win the series. But as James and Co. saw first hand in the play-in tournament, they're clearly not invincible.