LeBron James hunts down Jae Crowder in the Lakers win over the Suns in Game 3; fans claim he emulated Michael Jordan on the play.
The Los Angeles Lakers waltzed into their home arena of Staples Center in the Playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade and did not disappoint. With the series tied at 1 apiece, LeBron James and Anthony Davis combined for 55 points to help edge the purple and gold over the Phoenix Suns to take a 2-1 lead at home.
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LeBron James, though he struggled from beyond the arc, was a major contributor to LA’s victory last night as he hunted mismatches all night long, showing no signs of rust in his play. At 36 years of age, James is still as explosive as ever, taking the ball to the cup at ease and at his own pace.
This Game 3, like the other two games, had a couple of testy back and forths between the two squads. Everything from Chris Paul seemingly having tripped Kyle Kuzma to Devin Booker being ejected for pushing Dennis Schroder mid-air, this Suns-Lakers series is living up to the hype, all while producing close games in crunch time.
LeBron James goes after Jae Crowder in the Lakers win over the Suns.
Mikal Bridges did the best he could to stay with LeBron James on switches but with the big bodies the Lakers employ, could not power through. This left guys like Jae Crowder on an island with the reigning Finals MVP. It’s safe to say that despite Crowder’s best efforts on defense, LeBron got where he wanted against him as Staples Center cheered him on.
A particular moment that took place between the two happened when LeBron James seemed to channel his inner Michael Jordan down in the post with a bevy of shoulder fakes. He eventually drove baseline for an acrobatic finish on Crowder, with the Laker bench, especially Andre Drummond, going bonkers.
The Laker faithful was strong in Staples and on Twitter tonight as they went off on Jae’s lackluster defense on the ‘King’ as he dropped 21 points in the Game 3 victory.
Crowder seems to have little to no luck against LeBron in the postseason have matched up 15 times in the Playoffs, with last night being the 16th time. In those previous 15 times, LeBron James has put up averages of 29 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 7.4 assists, all while having a 12-3 record against him. If the Suns want to slow James down, Crowder is most definitely not the way to go.
