LeBron James isn’t paying attention to what pundits are saying about his performance, much less the analytics that now suggest he’s the slowest player in the Eastern Conference Finals.
According to NBA metrics that now track player pace, James ranks as the slowest player of this matchup against the Boston Celtics. According to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, a notion he wasn’t willing to accept.
“That’s the dumbest s–t I’ve ever heard,” James told Lloyd. “That tracking bulls–t can kiss my ass. The slowest guy? Get out of here.”
Numbers don’t lie, but that doesn’t mean James has to agree with them.
James is indeed the slowest player, and that is reflected on his own admission of saving pockets of energy for important stretches in the fourth quarter.
Upon rebounding, James is hardly looking to push the break, rather surveying his opponents’ positioning and dissecting the best angle to attack and create plays based on how the defense is set.
No longer a spry 18-year-old phenom, this 33-year-old version of James is a lot more brain than legs — choosing to pick apart his opposition by using a cerebral approach, rather than a physical one.
James might be the slowest running the court, but he’s the fastest to seek out a weakness and punish it — a trait he’s used to even up the series after two prompt games at Quicken Loans Arena.
James might not win the track race here, but he’s running away with the postseason scoring title, averaging a blistering 33.7 points per game and with six 40-point games to his name, two of them already in this series.
Now take that for data.
