Three games into LeBron James and Luka Doncic’s on-court dynamic and it seems as they’ve already found a strategy in which both players are comfortable and aligned with. “Who gets the last shot?” is probably the most difficult to respond, but the superstar duo seem clear about it going forward.
For example, this past Wednesday it was the all-time NBA leading scorer who got the chance to shoot the last shot, but the 22-year veteran missed out on two attempts from beyond the arc that would potentially tie the match. This meant that the Hornets beat the Lakers squad 100 to 97.
It was the Slovenian who served LeBron with 6.3 seconds left, but later told the press that their roles will be interchangeable. “He had it going, so obviously we’re going to go to him,” Luka explained. “I think it will go both ways. One time it’s going to be him, one time me. So I think it depends how the game is going.”
Nevertheless, before James’ final two shots, Gabe Vincent had earned an offensive rebound and served the 40-year-old, who missed again. Despite the veteran missing out in clutch moments, he had already hit 16 points in the fourth quarter alone, while Doncic had 5 points on 2-for-5 shooting.
“As a coach, you’re excited that you have two guys that can be the passer and be the guy who gets the pass,” said Los Angeles coach JJ Redick about who gets the last shot. “But it felt like LeBron, particularly in the fourth, just found a nice rhythm, and I felt really comfortable with that. And we got two good looks.”
The Cleveland native admitted he “felt pretty good” when his coach told he he would get the ball to have the last attempts of the match.”We run the set that JJ draws up,” James shared postgame. “You execute it. And we executed it. We just didn’t make it.”
While Luka almost posted a triple-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists, he did suffer 6 turnovers and only dropped 5-for-18 that night. “Obviously, it’s going to take a little time,” the 25-year-old said. “Today, a lot of rustiness for my part. Started the game with like four or five turnovers. That can’t happen. So just got to play basketball the right way.”
