LeBron James’s Teammates Beat Him, Then Joined Him

“It was probably one of the greatest moments of my career up until that point,” James told reporters recently. “Just knowing the situation, we were about to go down, 0-2 and we had home-court advantage. We knew how powerful that Orlando team was, playing against, actually my teammate now in Dwight. So, for me to be able to hit that shot was a huge moment for me. I was still a young kid at the time, so big-time.”

Orlando won the series in six games before falling in the N.B.A. finals to the Lakers.

James, afterward, declined to shake hands with any of the Magic, including Howard.

Now, it’s Howard’s job to set screens to help James score as many points as possible.

In the 2009-10 season, with James expected to again vie for a championship, Rondo helped the Boston Celtics beat James and the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, initiating James’s departure for the Miami Heat with “The Decision.”

James won his first title in 2011-12 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Two years later, Danny Green, another current Lakers teammate, helped block him from winning a third, against the San Antonio Spurs.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/sports/basketball/nba-lebron-james-teammates.html