During the persisting NBA season, the Golden State Warriors have faced the Lakers four times. The latter team lost three matches to their rivals, two, before the airing of Mind The Game’s recent episode. Discussing the matchups herein, LeBron James revealed that he has finally discovered the reason behind the same. A reason that stood to involve the Warriors’ superstar, Stephen Curry.
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While on the topic of the two teams, it was the co-host, JJ Redick who helped him point it out, talking about the gift that Stephen Curry possesses. As they paid attention to the attributes that make an athlete a good basketball player, the two found out what makes Curry’s presence so exceptional.
Could this be the reason why LeBron James’ team was defeated twice?
JJ Redick initiated the topic of how there are attributes associated with a basketball player that can determine the success of one athlete over another on the court. Setting aside the physical ones, Redick focused on the cognitive aspect of things. One of the attributes that he emphasized was ‘spatial awareness’ or ‘court mapping’.
He explained, using the analogy of old car models, that most players tend to have 80 or 90% of the court map ‘downloaded’ but only a few of them are at 100% and Stephen Curry is one of those athletes. LeBron agreed to the same by adding, “The ball is not the problem with Steph Curry. He’s the f**king problem. Steph is most dangerous when he doesn’t have the ball. Not many guys, all-time, in our league, that’s most dangerous without the ball.”
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LeBron also confessed that he discovered this recently before he came onto the show. Despite his discovery of the talent that Curry possesses, James wasn’t able to tackle it before the Lakers’ defeat on 9th April. Not only the podcast, but Bron showed his continued disappointment at the loss during a post-game interview.
LeBron James regrets disrespecting Warriors player
After the playoff game between the Lakers and the State Warriors on 9th April, LeBron James revealed that he regrets underestimating Draymond Green during the match. There were times when they didn’t cover him, probably because they didn’t prioritize him enough. However, this disrespect led to Green posting all his five threes and the Los Angeles Lakers losing the match that night. “They got it going early,” James said. “Had five for five from three. You have to tip your cap to him [Draymond Green]”
Apart from the Warriors’ power forward, Stephen Curry recorded 46 points with 3 rebounds, and seven assists to LeBron’s contribution of 36 points, 20 rebounds, and 12 assists. With that, the Lakers fell one point short (145-144), losing the season series 3-1 against the Warriors. If both teams maintain the pace, however, they might face each other in the play-ins, and the Lakers may find a chance at redemption.