Larry Nance Jr. in Awe of LeBron’s ‘Ridiculous’ Takeover in Crunch Time

Wednesday night was an experience that Larry Nance Jr. had not seen with the Los Angeles Lakers this season. Having a superstar teammate of the magnitude of LeBron James is a special kind of experience, something that he only had during Kobe Bryant’s final season before retiring from pro basketball.

Nance described James’ performance down the stretch as simply “ridiculous.”

The 14-time All-Star scored the Cleveland Cavaliers’ final nine points, seven of them in almost impossible fashion, to take down the pesky Denver Nuggets, 113-108. It was the first of their six-game road trip.

“It was ridiculous, it was ridiculous,” Nance said. “As a defender you just turn around to your coach and go, ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what you want from me.’ It was incredible.”

Asked by a reporter if he could sense that James was in takeover mode, the third-year forward wasn’t quite sure until a couple of shots went in.

“If not after the first shot or the second, then after the third for sure,” he said.

James has fans everywhere and the crowd at Pepsi Center was no different. The ‘James Show’ came at the expense of its team, but it didn’t seem to matter to the capacity crowd, many of who came to the arena wearing the four-time MVP’s jersey.

Nance was asked later if he tries not to be a fan during those moments when James takes over the game.

“See I count on everybody else on the court being a fan,” Nance acknowledged. “So I’m sure if you watch his shots, I’m dancing around the paint trying to find myself an angle just in case it comes out. Maybe pop it back out to the top or grab it myself.”

Most of the fans in the arena were cheering on the Cavs superstar as if he was playing for the Nuggets. It wasn’t unusual, but it was kind of “ridiculous” too.