The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Miami Heat 96-94 on Saturday night.
Despite being without Anthony Davis, LA hung in there to the very end in the 2020 NBA Finals rematch. In fact, the Lakers even had a chance to send it into overtime – only to come up slightly short on an Alex Caruso missed buzzer beater.
With just over eight seconds remaining in the outing, James stole an inbounds pass intended for Jimmy Butler. He and the Lakers then quickly took the ball down the floor.
Due to the defense scrambling, James found Caruso (sporting his spiffy new kicks) mostly open with about 1.5 seconds left on the clock.
Down by two, Caruso went up for the jumper – just to watch it clank off the front of the rim.
After the game, James was asked how he felt about Caruso being the one to take the potential game-winner.
For the most part, James was okay with it – with just one exception.
Down by two with under two seconds remaining, he wished Caruso had gone up for the three instead.
“I think the only bad thing about it is that he shot a long 2,” James said.
“I wish he would have shot a 3 and, make or miss, I’ll live with that.”
Klay knows how to do Valentine’s Day right. https://t.co/Gxt1gRLTX2
— Game 7 (@game7__) February 15, 2021
James finished the day with 19 points on 7-for-21 shooting. Given that performance, and with Davis out, it’s a miracle the Lakers were just one Caruso jumper away from sending the game into overtime.
Fortunately, the Lakers are in the running for at least one big trade, so hopefully it won’t be Caruso taking the potential game-winners for the team the next time it finds itself in this situation.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
