King Clutch??
Just a day after LeBron James made the statement that he would be on the, “Mount Rushmore,” of basketball when it is all said and done, James is making sure everyone remembers who the King is before All-Star break.
For all the haters that say James isn’t clutch, the reigning MVP knocked down the biggest shot of the NBA season in the final moments of the game in Golden State last night. The 27-foot three pointer put Miami up 1 with two-tenths of a second remaining and lifted the Heat 111-110 over the Warriors.
After a fast-paced and playoff level intensity game at Oracle Arena, the Heat will go into the All-Star break with a victory. The game featured some of the best basketball all season as both teams were diving for loose balls, getting big stops and making clutch shot after clutch shot down the stretch.
James finished the game with a monstrous 36 points, 13 rebounds and was 1 assist shy of a triple-double with nine dimes.
“At the end of the day, we witnessed greatness. A special player, an all-time great made a big-time shot.” – Mark Jackson on LeBron James
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 13, 2014
The Warriors are known best for their ability to put up 125 point scoring barrages led by the Splash Brothers Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Credit must be given to the Warriors for their defensive effort vs the Heat as they rallied from a 21 point deficit, cutting the lead to two going into the 4th. The Heat seem to bring out the best in the Warriors as Miami took a rare home loss to them in South Beach last month.
The Warriors defensive effort wasn’t enough last night as Andre Iguodala couldn’t have guarded James any better on the final shot. James had ice water running through his veins on the big shot and silenced the raucous Oracle Arena crowd with the clutch jumper.
The Heat have been accused of cruising this season compared to their 2013 championship campaign. Miami is nowhere near their level of play during the impressive 27-game winning streak around this time last year, and have lost some questionable games to the Philadelphia Sixers, Boston Celtics and most recently the Utah Jazz. Everyone loves to say the Heat are cruising but in reality they are sitting 2.5 games behind the 1 seed in the Eastern Conference held by the Indiana Pacers. There are still 30 games left in the season and the Heat are more than capable of finishing strong and going on a big run.
James was in the news earlier this weak for his attention grabbing incredible dunks in a practice in Phoenix. The next time we will see James in action will be on Sunday night during the 2014 All-Star game in New Orleans. Check out the game winning shot in the video below.
-Patrick Hazel (@pattywack25)
