LeBron James Muscles For The Layup Plus The Foul, Then Admires His Bicep

While J.R. Smith was shooting his way to the record books on Sunday, LeBron James was doing everything in his power to get the win. During a first quarter that saw the Knicks jump out to a double-digit lead before three minutes had elapsed, ‘Bron showed Knicks rookie Tim Hardaway Jr. just how strong his 6-8, 250-pound frame can be even when he’s completely wrapped up.

James just powers through Hardaway here for the layup, plus the foul — and you could see Hardaway after the play look impotently at the Knicks bench like, ‘what can I do?’ After his show of force, LeBron preened a little for the home crowd, whispering sweet nothings to his bicep.

It would be specious to call what transpired between James and J.R. Smith a duel. The Heat stormed back from a poor first quarter and the Knicks came back from a double-digit deficit in the final minutes to cut it to seven, but the Heat were never seriously contested, even with J.R. Smith embracing a stupor of forced three-pointers, and snapped nylon nets. Stll, that’s the label the NBA affixed to what James and Smith unleashed towards the end of regulation.

For the game, LeBron finished with 38 points (13-for-22 shooting, 3-of-7 from deep), six assists, five rebounds and five turnovers (four of which happened in the game’s first four minutes).

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