LeBron James, who started the game off reasonably well even by his standards, cooled off completely in the 4th quarter of the game to finish with 0 points in the period.
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The Los Angeles Lakers trailed the Houston Rockets by 6 points heading into the 4th quarter. Given the presence of LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the team and the high variance of the Rockets’ 3-point shooting strategy, one could expect a reasonable chance of the Lakers coming back to win the game.
LeBron James disappears in the 4th quarter, going scoreless in loss
The Houston Rockets came out of the gates swinging in the 4th quarter, embarking on a 10-0 run that effectively put the game to bed before the Lakers could do anything. This happened with LeBron James still on the floor at the start of the period.
LeBron James had zero points in the 4th quarter vs Rockets in Game 1. The Lakers star was abysmal with his shooting from the field and just did not get going when he was needed the most.
The MVP of the league had 4 points in the fourth quarter of an important playoff game
The other guy people thought should be the MVP instead had 0 points in the fourth quarter of an important playoff game
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) September 5, 2020
James was passive and did not attack the basket with any conviction whatsoever. All he did during the 4th quarter was try and fail to back down smaller defenders in the post area, and then make passes to the 3-point line where the shooters weren’t open. James only had 15 shot attempts through the course of the game, making just 7 of them.
Anthony Davis was a bit more assertive, but even he did not have much say in the proceedings after a point. His 3-point shot that swished with around 5 minutes remaining was a sign that the Lakers might yet mount an improbable comeback, but that was not to be.
