LeBron James now has the most finals losses in NBA history
The Lakers are still leading the series 3-2 against the Miami Heat.
In a close game against the Miami Heat, the Los Angeles Lakers broke down in the last 30 seconds and lost 111-108 in game 5 of the NBA Finals. That represented LeBron James' 33rd loss in the NBA Finals.
James is now tied with Jerry West with the most losses in NBA Finals history. He also created the record for the most finals losses while scoring 40 or more points (5), according to Yahoo Sports.
Meanwhile, Anthony Davis re-aggravated his heel injury late in the first quarter, and the rest of the Lakers did not have a good game on the offensive end. After a particular play where Davis got trapped with no teammates willing to receive the ball, James took over the play and hit a three-pointer.
He went on a scoring rampage after that.
LeBron ended the game with 40 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. However, it wasn't enough, and they still lost the game.
James is doing his best, taking over the Lakers, doing everything on the floor alone. Davis scored 28 points, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 16. No other Lakers player scored more than 8 points apart from them.
James also grabbed 13 rebounds and Davis 12. No other players have more than 5 apart from the two superstars. Team play is also non-existent with no Lakers player getting more than 3 assists other than James with 7 and Rajon Rondo with 5.
James is going back to the do-it-all-alone style of play he was known for in his younger years. In the NBA Finals, he is averaging over 30 points while his assists are down to just a bit over 7. In the regular season where the Lakers led the Western Conference, James averaged 25.3 points on the floor while dishing out over 10.2 assists.
His play-maker forward style in his older years gave him the reputation as the player with the best basketball IQ of all time. Rebounding double digits as a small forward and setting up his teammates every game while scoring over 25 points is an impressive feat.
However, in this season's NBA finals, he is returning to his old habits and is hurting the team.
James appeared in 9 NBA finals series in the last 10 years but won only three.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.