There was a time when many questioned LeBron James‘ clutch gene. The same can’t be said about the 40-year-old version of the forward.
On Tuesday, James dropped 16 points (7-of-9 FG) in the fourth quarter to lift the Lakers to a 107-99 win over the Mavericks. It was the latest example of James raising his level in clutch moments, not just from a scoring standpoint, but across all facets of the game.
This season, he ranks second in points (362), first in FGM (135), second in assists (109) and 12th in rebounds (107) in the fourth quarter. Even more impressively, he’s shooting an elite 42.7 percent from deep in fourth quarters, which ranks second among all players with at least 300 points in the final 12 minutes of a game.
