“A bet is not official until you see a man in the eye, so I had to look him in the eye and I could win it.”
To the delight of his teammates, and as James was still not facing the basket, the shot went in and caused the Lakers bench to break out in celebration.
While his repertoire of extraordinary abilities is wide and varied, three points have not been a regularity for James.
After accustoming his teammates to his feat on Tuesday, James paid tribute to Curry, one of the NBA’s greatest shooters ever and a person who has made no-look shots more common.
“For ten times out of nine, it goes for Steph.”
The ridiculous three-pointer without a look was the biggest moment of the Lakers’ dominant 117-100 victory over the Rockets.
Behind James ’26 points and Antony Davis’ 19 points, the reigning NBA champions improved their record to league best 9-3 and are now undefeated on the road.
‘This situation is crazy’
For the Rockets, it has been a turbulent start to the 2020-21 season.
After the blowout defeat on Tuesday – where the Rockets followed the Lakers by as much as 30 points at some stages – Harden called the team’s situation “crazy”.
Despite the additions of veterans like John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, the Rockets’ normally free-flowing offense has seen discombobul this year.
And this is the epitome of Harden’s own struggles. The 31-year-old has won the NBA’s championship title in the last three seasons, but has failed to score more than 20 points in four straight games, his longest run since 2012.
“We are not even close, honestly, to that team – of course the defending champions – and all the other elite teams out there,” said Harden. “You can see the difference in these last two games.
“Of course chemistry, talent, everything, and it was clear, as I said the last few games. From the start of the game, they were just aggressive, veteran teams, obviously, a championship team and one of the best teams we have in this league. . “
Missing one star, leaning on another
When Kyrie Irving was missing for her fourth game due to personal reasons, the Brooklyn Nets had to rely on another superstar to help them out of a hole Tuesday night.
The Nets, led by Kevin Durant’s 34 points, 13 assists and 9 rebounds, came back from an 18-point deficit in the second half to defeat the Denver Nuggets 122-116 Tuesday night.
During the course of the game, Durant surpassed Elgin Baylor, Dwyane Wade and Adrian Dantley on the all-time scoresheet, moving up to 28th all the time.
In Irving’s absence, Nets CEO Sean Marks said the organization was “aware of a video on social media with Kyrie Irving at a family reunion.”
“We are reviewing the circumstances with both Kyrie and the NBA to determine compliance with health and safety protocols,” Marks said. Kyrie stays away from the team for personal reasons.
“A date for his return is yet to be finalized. In the meantime, we will continue to focus on our organizational goals. Kyrie will have the opportunity to tackle his absence when he is ready for it.”
Irving has not yet commented publicly.
More exposed games
Meanwhile, six NBA games have now been postponed this season due to the league’s health and safety protocols.
For the third time in less than a week, the Boston Celtics had a game postponed due to Covid-19 issues.
Wednesday’s scheduled home game in the TD Garden vs. Orlando Magic was canceled after the league said in a statement that testing and contact tracking within the Celtics organization has left the team short of the eight available players required by the NBA for the Celtics to be right. .
It was also announced that Wednesday’s Utah Jazz vs. Washington Wizards games have been postponed because the Wizards did not want the league-mandated eight players. That means five matches have been canceled since Sunday.
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