If Stephen Curry starts to get confident after hitting a few shots, he has been known to hit his opponents with a little shimmy as he runs back down the court.
In Game 5 it was Chris Paul who paid back the favor. After hitting a bit shot right in Curry’s face, Paul hit him with a shimmy as they both ran back down the court.
LeBron James was asked about the shimmy before the Game 6 shootaround, and he said he smiled and laughed at it.
James and the Cavs are hoping that they will be able to drop a few shimmies on the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
The good news for James is that he is statistically, one of the best players ever with his back against the wall in elimination games.
According to Mike Lynch of The Ringer:
“LeBron has won 12 of the 21 playoff elimination games his teams have faced, while averaging 33.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and a 57.6 true shooting percentage. Those 33.5 points are the most any player in NBA history has averaged when facing playoff elimination (minimum three games.)”
12 of 21 might not seem great in elimination games, but since the final game of the 2011 finals, he has been even better. Since that point, he has won 10 of 13 elimination games, and his stats are out of this world, averaging 35.8 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists.
The question for the Cavs is how will the rest of the team step up, LeBron James is going to be there and have a huge game, but he can’t do this by himself.