The Lakers were swept by the Nuggets in the first round of the playoffs, but the team’s woes were on full display well before then, LeBron says.
The LA star shared his take on how an early season blunder set his team up for failure further down the line.
LeBron was asked by JJ Redick about the Lakers’ shooting from the field in the early part of the regular season on the latest episode of Mind the Game Pod.
“We couldn’t shoot,” James said. “We always say the law of averages is going to even itself out. The first month and a half, two months we couldn’t hit the side of a f***ing cow’s ass from three-point [range]. We couldn’t.”
LeBron went on to point out how the team’s shooting struggles forced them to the free throw line, where they averaged the second-highest free-throw attempts in the league (1,983 FTA over 82 games).
“We’re 29th in three-points attempted and people are complaining while we’re top five in free throw attempts, ’cause that’s what we do,” James explained.
In 82 regular season games, the Lakers shot 37.7 percent from three.
James (a career-high 41 percent from three) and D’Angelo Russell (41.5 percent) led the team’s shooting from three during the regular season.
In the postseason, the Lakers only shot 29.9 percent from three as a team.
LeBron unsurprisingly carried the team on his back, shooting at 38.5 percent from three in their five-game series against the Nuggets.
Russell shot just 31.8 percent from three, while other role players like Austin Reaves shot 26.9 percent, and Taurean Prince shot 29.4 percent.
LeBron’s co-star Anthony Davis only shot five times from three-point range in five games and missed every shot.
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