In a thrilling back-and-forth affair that saw the Los Angeles Lakers escape with a narrow 103-100 win over the Golden State Warriors, it was a clutch basket from LeBron James that sealed the deal.
With just a minute remaining in the fourth quarter, Draymond Green had Kentavious Caldwell-Pope trapped in the low right block with the shot clock ticking.
Caldwell-Pope couldn’t shoot, so he browsed the strong-side perimeter hoping to kick it out to a teammate for a 3-pointer.
He kicked it out to James, who stood about 30-feet away from the rim, with 3.1 seconds on the shot clock.
James caught the pass and did his best to square up before the release, letting go with 1.2 seconds remaining. Swish.
The basket put Los Angeles up 103-100, and it would stay that way as the Lakers closed it out with their stout defense.
Here are some angles of James’ clutch 3-point basket:
BRON HUGE THREE 🤯 pic.twitter.com/MmbwXTPGNz
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 20, 2021
LeBron's buzzer-beater proved to be the game-winner 😮 pic.twitter.com/xFcO1GWy9K
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 20, 2021
LeBron on his game-winning shot:
“After Draymond’s finger to the eye, I was literally seeing three rims out there. I just shot for the middle one”
(via @Rachel__Nichols) pic.twitter.com/Di0Je54UWT
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 20, 2021
James finished the game with a 22-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist triple-double to go with two steals and a block. He shot 7-of-17 from the field, including a 2-of-4 clip from deep.
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