Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James created the 10th NBA Finals

Lake Funa Vista, Fla. – Stands on the side as his teammate Anthony Davis Talked to reporters about how his first season with the Los Angeles Lakers gave him the first NBA final of his career, LeBron James The 10th finale of his career asked him what that meant.

Following the Lakers’ 117-107 Game 5 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday for winning the Western Conference title, James told ESPN “Right now, I don’t mean that —“. “I have to finish doing it.”

He definitely finished the nails. In the fourth quarter James scored 16 of his game-high 38 points, going 10-for-10 from the field in the final frame. He showed his remaining skills throughout the game, recording his 27th career playoff triple-double with 16 restarts and 10 assists, following Magic Johnson’s 30.

But NBA’s No. 1 all-time post-season scoring leader James put the ball in the bucket. According to second-spectrum data, all of his final six field goals in the fourth quarter are unlisted, tied to the most individual shots he made in the fourth quarter of the playoff game. These are the highest points he has scored in the fourth quarter of a series Clinger, and in some of them he has won, advancing 38-10 (.792) in close games, the best record in those games according to Elias Sports Bureau, the lowest player in league history (at least 25 games).

When he fired a jump shot at the Denver defenders – his five jumpers were built in the quarter for the most jump shots he received in the fourth quarter of any game since he began tracking the second spectrum in 2013-14 – he was reminded for the first time for a season in San Diego two years ago He slipped into a lockers uniform. The lockers were playing with nails.

“I remember the game before that season,” James told ESPN. “I remember we ran out of the tunnel. I remember the first pass I threw to the most advanced player this year. [Brandon Ingram], This is a great moment for a layoff. The first shot I made was a kickout 3 over [Nikola] Jockey. I remember it. And meeting. Damn. This is special. This is special. “

With no meeting on Saturday, with the exception of about a dozen members of the Lakers family who sat on the stand at the Advent Health Arena, the COVID-19 Precautions NBA is mandatory for daily testing to finish its season in a bubble, but it is still special in its own right.

When James was asked to say a few words on center court after the White and Gold Confederation fell to commemorate the Lakers’ first trip to the final since 2010, he allowed himself to live this time when Kobe Bryant led LA to its rival Boston Celtics in the last seven games.

“We’re going to enjoy it tonight because it’s not promised every year,” James said. “Every year there are only two teams that can advance to the finals. That means only 30 players advance to the finals each year. We’m going to enjoy it tonight, but we understand that there are bigger fish to fry. There’s a bigger goal, but we can not take this for granted because it is every It will not happen to anyone year after year. “

Not every year the lockers endured to get to this point. They went a long way, from the almost early cancellation of games overseas, until Bryant’s tragic death in January, and a 40 – month hiatus from the corona virus infection.

“I was fuel all year,” James told ESPN. “Throughout the year. Even during the strike. I was still training.”

Along the way, Bryant, a maniac worker, yells, “1-2-3 Mamba!” The team broke the huddles by chanting that, causing inspiration and motivation. And wore special black, snake-print jerseys at the playoffs in his memory.

In 2010, James memorably opposed Bryant’s announcement that he would skip college from Cleveland to “take my skills to the South Coast” and “take my skills” to the NBA, declaring that it was “simply a big fish to fry”. Bryant rejected that query during the 2006 playoffs when King Bell of Phoenix Sons was told he would be locked up for safety.

“Did he?” When James learned about the parallel phrase ESPN. “Oh, s —. Really? No, I do not know it. I do not know it. It’s funny. There’s some crazy — going on.”

In a basketball sense, the challenge in the final is nothing more than waiting for James. MIAMI HEAD – If he had advanced 3-2 over the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals, he would have faced his old team, led by its architect Pat Riley, who rubbed James the wrong way when he left Miami. Back to Cleveland in 2014.

If Boston come back, James and the Lakers will have a chance to link the Celtics to 17 for the most championships in league history, by knocking down the team before doing so.

One win gave him the fourth championship of his career and Bryant his fourth victory at the same venue: Orlando.

That’s it is still in danger. James’ 10 finals connect him for the third time Kareem Abdul-Jaber, Sam Jones 11 and Bill Russell 12; While the lockers have been diligent to get to this point, there is still much to be done.

If James could finish the season with a championship and a final MVP, he would be the first player to win that award with three owners. It shouldn’t be that Bryant has been playing with the Lakers all his 20 seasons, either Michael Jordan He has won the championship round six times, but that is his true story.

“I like to travel on my own because it’s my journey. I appreciated everything that happened along the way. “But I’m done, I think, as Frank Sinatra says, ‘I did it my way.’

However, before it was time to play Sinatra as a swan song, James thought of a song from Jay-Is’s 2003 “Public Service Announcement” as his movement.

“” Finish your breakfast, “James told ESPN, citing J-Iz’s way you have to get the job done. “Mmm hmm. Finish your breakfast.”