LeBron James claps back at 'no skill' narratives undermining his GOAT status with IG story: "Clips of me just running"
LA Lakers star LeBron James is no stranger to being targeted by criticism and heckling and, sometimes, he claps back at those critics. Once again, LeBron has fired back at his naysayers and this time, he did so by reposting a clip on his Instagram Stories.
The clip was originally posted by a LeBron fan page before being reposted by Maverick Carter and then finally by the four-time champion himself. The clip is a compilation of highlights of James hitting a variety of shots against the Washington Wizards from a game in 2017. At the time, he was still playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Aside from reposting the clip, the Lakers star also added a sarcastic caption meant for his critics.
"Another game of clips of me just running fast and running people over to the basket!" LeBron said. "No skill."
These highlights are from Nov. 3, 2017. It was the first time that the Cavs and the Wizards faced each other during the 2017-18 regular season. James made sure to put on a show despite playing in front of the Wizards fans.
LeBron used a wide array of moves to get past the Wizards defenders, who had no answer for him. James ended up scoring 57 points on a 23-for-34 shooting clip (67.6%). He also went 2-for-4 from behind the three-point line and 9-for-9 on free throws.
Aside from leading all scorers that night, "King James" put up 11 rebounds (game-high), seven assists, three steals and two blocks.
This game ranks as the second-highest scoring effort of James' career. He has scored at least 50 points 14 times in his NBA career.
Also read: "S/O the Brodie" - LeBron James shouts out Russell Westbrook as former Lakers teammates gets featured on NFL fan cam
LeBron James' 57-point game was a good response to John Wall's claims
The Cleveland Cavaliers had another dominant run during the 2016-17 season with LeBron James at the helm. However, they only finished as the second seed after losing their last four games of the regular season. This resulted in the Boston Celtics becoming the number-one seed with a 53-29 record.
As the number two seed, the Cavs ended up facing the Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors in the first two rounds. Then, Cleveland faced the Boston Celtics in the conference finals. However, had the Cavs been the first seed, they would have faced the Wizards during the second round.
A matchup that then-Wizards point guard John Wall was confident his team would win. In fact, Wall said the Cavs intentionally dropped to the second seed just to avoid a likely battle with the Wizards in the second round.
James and the Cavs dominated the 2017-18 season series against Wall and the Wizards that year, going 3-1.