Dryamond Green has admitted LeBron James has changed his style of play to make the team work.
Following the loss to Los Angeles, the Golden State Warriors center forward pointed out a shift in the rival’s attack.
“LeBron James is playing a totally different style, but a totally different game than I’ve seen him play before. And it’s interesting to understand. You’re not used to seeing LeBron so much playing without the ball.” Green said.
“So I thought it was interesting and it showed that we need to adjust. It’s not normal to see LeBron running the show, which is weird.” Green added.
The 2022/23 season for the Los Angeles Lakers was, to say the least, unusual. First, it started by losing ten of its opening 12 games.
But, it looked like it would just be a LeBron James record campaign, something Green wanted to see up close.
However, the Californian team made trades at the trade deadline and things changed completely.
In reality, since returning from a foot ailment, James hasn’t been the Lakers’ leading scorer. As a result, Anthony Davis was cast in the role.
In the first game of the semifinals, Davis recorded 30 points and 23 rebounds. LeBron, on the other hand, had 22 points and 11 rebounds.
In 15 matches since his return, the number 6 only surpassed the 30-point mark on three occasions, all in the regular season.
Meanwhile, in the same period, Davis had six matches surpassing those numbers, three of them in the knockout stages.
The Lakers offense actually changed. Before, LeBron centralised most of the plays, as an organiser even when working alongside Russell Westbrook.
But after the exchanges, D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves share responsibility with James in the matter.
James’ assist count has since dropped to 5.6. Reaves, on the other hand, had a decisive 2.2 passes before the star’s injury. From that moment, including the playoffs, it rose to 5.5. Finally, Russell has 6.0 over the same period.
When playing without the ball, James also reduced his use of three shots. In the playoffs, he converted only 18.4% of his attempts, against 32.1% in the regular phase.
In the first game against the Warriors, the star hit just one of the eight that he risked from the perimeter.
