LeBron James hasn’t quite been his usual dominant self in these playoffs so far for the Los Angeles Lakers, but that hasn’t stopped the team from winning.
After the Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 on Tuesday, Draymond Green, who has had many battles with James over the years, stated on his podcast that he is playing a different style of basketball now.
“LeBron is playing a totally different style, a totally different game than we’ve ever seen him play before,” Green said. “And it is interesting figuring it out. It’s very interesting, you are not used to seeing LeBron off the ball so much and so I thought that was interesting and something that we’ll have to adjust to. It’s just not your typical LeBron running the show, which is a bit weird.”
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James is playing off the ball a lot more now than at perhaps any other point in his career. There have been numerous instances since he returned from his injury toward the end of the regular season when the Lakers have just let Austin Reaves or D’Angelo Russell handle the ball instead of him. It could be that maybe his injury isn’t completely healed just yet, or this is just how he is going to play from here on out.
In these playoffs, LeBron is averaging 22.1 PPG, which is the lowest of his career, and his 5.0 APG is the second-lowest in his 16 trips to the playoffs. He is contributing elsewhere, though, as his 11.1 RPG and 1.6 BPG are the second-highest in his playoff career.
The Lakers Are Winning With LeBron James Playing This Different Role
For the majority of his NBA career, LeBron’s teams have been completely reliant on him. If he struggled offensively, then there was almost no chance of his team winning, but that is not the case with these Lakers. By his high standards, LeBron had a mediocre outing in Game 1, with 22 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocks while shooting 9-24 from the field, but it didn’t matter.
He just has so much more help around him now that he doesn’t really need to have those virtuoso performances he once did. LeBron can just use his all-around abilities to impact the game in different ways and it’s a luxury he just hasn’t ever had. He would know though, that he still has to play better on offense if the Lakers are to win a title and his message to the team after winning Game 1 was that they have to be even better.
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