PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia 76ers are 6-1 following a win over the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday night. It was another win the Sixers were able to pull out in the final minutes despite trailing by double digits and not finding much offensive rhythm in the second half.
Even though LeBron James didn't play in that game due to it being the second night of a back-to-back, the Sixers were still able to take lessons they have learned thus far and apply them to this situation. James has seen literally every single scenario a basketball player can ever see in his lifetime. Therefore, he stays calm and ready in a lot of these moments, which then gets passed down to his younger teammates.
"Leadership," Tyrese Maxey stated of James. "Leadership. Calming
presence. He's going to get a lot of rebounds, maybe go get the ball and calm us down. At the end of the day, it's LeBron James. He can do the stuff like he did tonight (Friday against the Knicks). He got a couple of big buckets."
James finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists in Friday's win over New York and he kept the team calm and focused on the task at hand. A slow start means nothing in this league when there's so much talent up and down the roster and there is still so much time left on the clock. That's the message James continues to preach to the team and the group is listening.
"He kind of been in a bunch of different scenarios, he’s been in the league 24 years, 25 years, he’s seen a bunch of different end-of-game situations," added VJ Edgecombe. "So, he’s composed, he’s relaxed, he knows, but he’s also just so vocal. That kind of helps us. That helps us all the time, just him being so vocal and, like I said, just gives us the confidence to guard, just expects certain actions or he calls out something before it happens type thing."
The fact that James and the Sixers have found ways to close out these types of games is an encouraging sign. Of course, Philadelphia would rather not have to play from behind so often, but this is a good step for this group as they continue to move forward.
"Yeah, it's going to be extremely encouraging," Maxey said. "I think we're going to be in a lot of close games, and, um, it's going to be big time for us to be in close games. We have been able to get stops defensively late in games."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers backcourt singles out LeBron James for calming influence
