It was a short sequence in the second quarter of the Lakers‘ stunning win over the Rockets in overtime on Friday night, a win that puts the team up, 3-0, in their playoff series against Houston and moves L.A. to the brink of advancing to the conference semifinals. But in the span of 30 seconds, LeBron James set a stifling screen for his son, Lakers guard Bronny James, who was left in the clear by Houston’s defense and confidently knocked down a 3-pointers.
After a defensive stop on the other end, the Lakers got into transition, with LeBron James pushing the ball up the floor and Bronny James ahead on the wing. Father flipped a long pass to son, and Bronny caught it, finishing with a reverse layup. It was only five points for Bronny James, how played five minutes on the night.
But they were a memorable five minutes and, after the game, James was still a little in awe of what had just happened.
Lakers Notch Win on LeBron James’ Big Night
Of course, the big picture is that the Lakers erased a six-point deficit in the final 30 seconds of regulation to force a mistake-prone Rockets team into the overtime period, where the Lakers won it, 112-108. While James had 29 points and 13 rebounds, guard Marcus Smart’s heady plays down the stretch and his 21 points, 10 assists and five steals fueled the win.
The Lakers entered the series just hoping to survive long enough that the team’s two leading scorers–Austin Reaves (oblique) and Luka Doncic (hamstring)–can return from injury and give L.A. a fighting chance. But they’ve knocked the Rockets right on their heels instead.
LeBron James ‘Locked Out’ in Bronny James Moments
As for James, he is trying to soak in the dual surrealness of nearly winning this series despite the long odds and playing important playoff basketball with his son as part of the Lakers.
“There’s like, many moments that happen throughout a game, and in a postseason game, I am always like, super locked-in,” James said. “And over the last three games there have been many moments where I kinda locked out if that makes sense. And all those moments have been with Bronny. It’s like, it just keeps getting better and better. It’s like, ‘Wow.’”
Lakers Should Benefit From Bronny James Minutes
James went on to say what the Lakers have been saying behind the scenes for the the better part of a year–Bronny James is an NBA quality 3-and-D wing, no matter who is father is. This experience should be a huge benefit to him going forward.
“For him to come in, you see the five points, but his attention to detail, his defensive mindset, his prowess on the ball, guarding, defending and then when they decided to go far removed under his pick-and-roll I was setting, for him to be confident in the work he has put int, to step up and make that shot, and then to run the floor and be able to catch that lob,” James said.
“Every moment—young players, you get, like the amount of confidence that a young kid can from a postseason game, a regular season game, you will never get nervous from a regular-season game again when you play meaningful postseason minutes. And he’s done that. I think that’s pretty cool.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post LeBron James Was ‘Locked Out’ on Bronny Play in Lakers Win appeared first on Heavy Sports.