Lately, LeBron James has been the man responsible for the Los Angeles Lakers’ surge. The team has won five of its last six games, and James has had a huge hand in that success.
On Sunday, he scored 37 points on 14-of-19 shooting and dished eight assists in a 105-104 win over the Houston Rockets. He found Austin Reaves for the 3-pointer that put Los Angeles up 103-100 with under 30 seconds left, and he hit the free throw that provided the final margin of victory with 1.9 seconds remaining.
Fox Sports 1 personality Skip Bayless, who has been accused of being a James hater, called that foul shot “one of the gutsiest late-game things” he has ever seen the 38-year-old do while derisively adding that maybe James is “starting to figure it out in Year 21.”
Swishing that second FT was one of the gutsiest late-game things I've ever seen LeBron do. Maybe he's starting to figure it out in Year 21.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) November 20, 2023
While James has missed a number of clutch free throws and shots over the years and has been inefficient in such situations, he has also made a very large number of clutch shots. In fact, he scored 13 of his 37 points on Sunday in the fourth quarter.
In what NBA.com defines as “clutch situations” (the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is within five points), James is shooting 70% from the field and is tied for the second-most points at 38 (he’s one point behind Damian Lillard for first place) this season.