SUMMARY
- LeBron James explains how a single bad stretch could affect a playoff series.
- King James and JJ Reddick discuss the mental toll that a 7 game series takes on a player.
LeBron James recently broke down the major differences between a regular season game and the postseason. Most NBA fans will know that the regular season consists of 82 games that which the 30 teams across the league participate in. At the end of the regular season, the top 8 teams from either conference make it to the postseason and have a chance at contending for an NBA championship.
LeBron has been playing at an elite level for the majority of his career and has been a part of more than 200 playoff games. During a recent episode of his podcast alongside former NBA star JJ Reddick, King James highlighted the most important differences between the playoffs and a regular season game. With that being said, let us take a closer look and find out what he had to say.
LeBron James reveals that minor mistakes could decide the outcome of a playoff series
Out of all the players currently in the league, there is no denying that LeBron James is the most experienced and accomplished of them all. After all, King James has made it to the NBA Finals 10 times in his 21-year-long career and likely knows about the intensity of the playoffs and how it compares to regular season games much better than any other active or even retired player.
During his podcast with JJ Reddick, the Lakers star broke down how players treat regular-season games and discussed how this approach simply would not work in the playoffs.
“In general one possession can lose you the series and compared to the regular season, you can get away with some slippage you can get away….In the postseason, one bad stretch, it could be a 6-0 run it could be a turnover here… There’s times when you know you could win a playoff game and because the way you finished the game, you already lost the second one.”
This is certainly an interesting take on the playoffs. Small blunders and mistakes put alongside not creating the needed momentum could potentially result in the loss of a series even if it provides a win. LeBron and JJ also discussed the mental pressure that comes with participating in the playoffs.
King James and JJ Reddick agree on the mental pressure that comes with a 7 game series
In any professional sport, the physical side and mental side should be taken into consideration. It is already common knowledge that things slow down in the playoffs. Foul calls are given less frequently and momentum changes at any point in time.
However, the mental toll it takes in order to get through a series has not been given enough acknowledgment. LeBron James and JJ vehemently agreed with this notion. If two teams face off in a series and are tied at 2-2, the team that loses will face elimination and will be put into a must-win scenario for the remaining two games in the series.