"You know its pretty cool": Lakers' LeBron James recalls his "Greatest assist" in latest with JJ Redick
With the Los Angeles Lakers recently beaten by the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs, LeBron James and JJ Redick dropped episode 6 of the Mind the Game podcast on YouTube.
As usual, the two basketball junkies share their knowledge of the game and how a past hammer play had the four-time MVP claim that he had the 'greatest assist' in his long NBA career.
James recalls having Mike Dunleavy Jr. as a teammate during the 2016–17 season when the Cleveland Cavaliers faced the Orlando Magic at the Rocket Mortgage Arena in Ohio.
At the 5:19 mark of the second quarter, with the Cavs up by 19 points over the Magic, James found Dunleavy moving to the corner and executing a hammer action. A long bounce pass by James finds Dunleavy on the weak side, sinking an open corner three-pointer that puts Cleveland up by 22 points.
"I think it's one of my one of my greatest assists I've ever had and we ran a hammer action for Mike Dunleavy versus Orlando," James said.
"I believe it was at home in Cleveland and I wrapped it around baseline, remember for Dunleavy to hit a three it was kind of you know it's pretty cool I like that hammer action." [43 minute mark].
LeBron James and JJ Redick see the hammer action opening up a slot cut
Explaining the hammer action to their audience, LeBron James and JJ Redick open up the possibilities that may follow. From the piston action, it also opens up a player to capitalize on a slot cut.
As the ball handler initiates the action, aside from the primary defender guarding him, the nearest player reacts and tries to help. Through this, another offensive player becomes open for a slot cut in the paint for an easy two points instead of pushing for a hammer action, which at this point is anticipated by the defensive team.
"If you get a gut that slips to the rim, I guarantee even if the coaches said in the timeout, 'no threes', if you get one guy to slip to the rim, there will be one guy that would have a reaction," said James.
LeBron James and JJ Redick's podcast educates basketball fans on the terminology used by coaches and players to communicate during games. In just six episodes, the YouTube channel of 'Mind The Game' has already accumulated 571K subscribers as of this writing.