Bronny James easily had his best game of the series against the Houston Rockets in Game 3. The Los Angeles Lakers guard scored the first playoff points of his career, finishing the night with five total. Every one of those points counted in the Lakers' tight 112-108 overtime win over the Rockets.
It was tough for LeBron James to not be a proud dad after the game was over. However, the impact of this performance for Bronny went beyond just that. LeBron really believed in that type of Game 3 being a building block moment for any young player.
"The amount of confidence that a young kid in our league can get from a postseason game, ... you would never get nervous from a regular season moment ever again when you play meaningful postseason games and postseason minutes. ... That's just pretty cool for his career."
LeBron has some obvious bias here, given who the subject of his comments was. Even so, that should not erase a point well made by the Lakers star.
Bronny James crossed a pivotal checkpoint in his young Lakers career
LeBron would add credit about several things for Bronny here. The older of the two James praised the younger one for his attention to detail, defensive mindset, prowess guarding on the ball, and the confidence that showed up when his son was dared to shoot the ball in the second quarter.
You could see it too. Bronny hesitated for a brief moment in letting that 3-point shot fly before draining a clean bucket for the easy points. That came from trusting the work that had been put in, according to LeBron.
Bronny has been delivering that part of the equation for a while.
The improvements in the G League with the South Bay Lakers have been easy to spot. When given the opportunity to showcase how far he'd come with the main unit in Los Angeles, Bronny showed up and secured JJ Redick's trust ahead of the NBA Playoffs.
Now, it has been built even further. After not seeing second-half minutes in Game 1 or Game 2, Redick gave Bronny a shot in the fourth quarter of Game 3.
All of the added experience should go a long way, as LeBron suggested.