The NBA world has been slow to anoint LeBron James unequivocally throughout the years, but after he zipped through the Indiana Pacers’ defense Wednesday night to easily score on a layup and nab the overtime win for the Miami Heat, the compliments started flowing.
James did look superb on the play, moving past Paul George and going through the nonexistent (or, as most people noted, Roy Hibbert-free) Pacers defense to lay the ball in.
But the degree of difficulty was not so huge — and King James himself is pointing that out now.
“I mean, I made a layup,” James said during the in-depth postmortem of Game 1. “It’s not like I made something halfcourt. I made a layup.
“I’ve been doing that since I was 8 years old.”
In defense of everyone gushing over James, some people still have trouble with layups, no matter their age, just as some teams (or coaches) still have trouble with decision-making, no matter how many times they’ve tried to defend the best player in the world with 2.2 seconds remaining on the clock.
But thanks, LeBron, for pointing out again how ridiculous the play was — if not for James’ skill, then for the Pacers’ lack of it.
