Cleveland Cavaliers’ star LeBron James commonly makes highlight reels for dunks, crucial shots and even blocks, but this season, some of his most spectacular plays have come from passes. Back in January, LeBron threw a behind-the-back, through-the-legs pass to set up a Dwyane Wade layup, and in February, he set a career-high with 19 assists in the wake of the Cavs’ roster shakeup. Then, on Sunday, he delivered one of the most impressive passes of this season, faking an outside pass to Kyle Korver that got Brook Lopez to overpursue, then tossing a one-hand no-look pass to Ante Zizic for an easy dunk. Here’s the clip:
LeBron fooled everyone on the court with this no-look pass pic.twitter.com/CqYW2cQP1v
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) March 12, 2018
Let’s see that on a closer angle:
LeBron no-look pass pic.twitter.com/W4LSzEWKue
— Steve Noah (@Steve_OS) March 12, 2018
Wow. As Curtis Harris noted, that’s right out of the playbook of famed playground/Globetrotter/NBA star Connie Hawkins:
https://twitter.com/ProHoopsHistory/status/973024593156952064
https://twitter.com/ProHoopsHistory/status/973024973693603841
Compare this Hawkins one at 1:53 here:
That’s just beautiful. And this works because LeBron sells the initial pass well, and Korver’s in position for a three. That causes Lopez to chase hard, and gives Zizic an easy lane. But it’s the execution from LeBron that’s particularly special, both on the matador-style fake that sees Lopez charge on through, and then on the finishing one-hand no-look pass. The Cavs would eventually fall 127-113 to the Lakers, but this might have been the highlight of the night.
[Steve Noah on Twitter]
