Ray Allen Called His Game-Winning Three a ‘Layup’


For the second time this season, LeBron James found a wide open Ray Allen for a back-breaking three-pointer. The latest heroic long-distance shot, according Allen, was basically a layup. Per the Miami Herald: “Before his game-winning shot, he had already scored 12 points on four shots, including a pair of three-pointers, in the game’s final period. Still, with less than 20 seconds on the clock and the Heat trailing 108-106, the Cavaliers somehow allowed Allen to find space against their defense. How? You could call it a rookie mistake by Dion Waiters, the Cleveland guard who took his eye off Allen for a split second; but there is more to it than that. The Nuggets made a similar mistake on Nov. 3 when James collapsed Denver’s defense like a house of cards and Allen made his four-point play. […] When Waiters turned away from Allen, the veteran guard slid to his left. James feigned a post move, drawing Waiters in closer, then shot a pass to Allen on the wing. As Allen likes to say, it was curtains from there. ‘Just that slight movement when he went to help,’ Allen said. ‘I just kind of slid up and when he turned, it was almost like, it was basically a layup, because I was standing right there and he didn’t have to think much.’ Allen finished with 15 points in the quarter. For the season, Allen is shooting 52.9 percent from three-point range (27 of 51).”