The Los Angeles Lakers fell to the Miami Heat 96-94 on Saturday night.
Despite being without Anthony Davis, L.A. hung in there to the very end in the 2020 NBA Finals rematch. In fact, the Lakers even had a chance to send it into overtime — only to come up slightly short on an Alex Caruso missed buzzer-beater.
With just over eight seconds remaining in the outing, James stole an inbounds pass intended for Jimmy Butler. He and the Lakers then quickly took the ball down the floor.
Due to the defense scrambling, James found Caruso (sporting his spiffy new kicks) mostly open with about 1.5 seconds left on the clock.
Down by two, Caruso went up for the jumper — just to watch it clank off the front of the rim.
After the game, James was asked how he felt about Caruso being the one to take the potential game-winner.
For the most part, James was OK with it — with just one exception. Down by two with under 2 seconds remaining, he wished Caruso had gone up for the three-pointer instead.
“I think the only bad thing about it is that he shot a long 2,” James said. “I wish he would have shot a 3 and, make or miss, I’ll live with that.”
James finished the day with 19 points on 7-of-21 shooting. Given that performance, and with Davis out, it’s a miracle the Lakers were just one Caruso jumper away from sending the game into overtime.
Fortunately, the Lakers are in the running for at least one big trade, so hopefully it won’t be Caruso taking the potential game-winners for the team the next time it finds itself in this situation.
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