Lakers vs Warriors: LeBron James praises Chris Paul after going over Steph Curry for game winner
LeBron James says he was seeing three rims as he took his game winning three-pointer
LeBron James says he is looking forward to going up against "MVP calibre" Chris Paul in the playoffs after the Los Angeles Lakers' stellar come-from-behind win over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA play-in.
The Lakers were trailing the Warriors by 15 points going into the third quarter but reduced the deficit to two going into the fourth. It was neck and neck until the final seconds but Frank Vogel's team pulled off a 103-100 win on the back of James' clutch three pointer.
Just before James' play, he was fouled by Draymond Green with a finger in his eye. The four-time NBA champ looked to be in considerable pain and revealed that he was seeing three rims when he made the game winning shot.
"After Draymond's finger to the eye, I was literally seeing three rims out there. I just shot for the middle one," James told ESPN's Rachel Nichols after the game while admitting that he expects the eye injury to get worse later in the day.
James was not at his best against the Warriors but ended the night with a 22-10-11 triple double. He was aided by Anthony Davis with 25 points, of which 20 came in the second-half when the Lakers reeled the Warriors in.
The Lakers will now travel to Phoenix to take on the Suns in the first round of the playoffs. Monty Williams' team finished as the second seed in the Western Conference and James, who praised Suns point guard Chris Paul, believes they have earned the right to have home court advantage.
"CP [Chris Paul] you know played at an MVP calibre all year, Book [Devin Booker] Ayton [Deandre Ayton] have grown all year. They've given those guys a supporting cast around them," James told Nichols after the game.
"We know what we gonna get out of CP, we know how great CP is, how great Book is but it's the other guys as well that we need to make sure we key in on cause they've been playing extremely well all year," he added.
The Lakers will hope James' eye injury is minor, especially since they have missed their leader for a number of games this season owing to an ankle injury. The 17-time All Star will have to be at his best if they are to beat the in-form Suns over seven games.
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