LeBron James says Wesley Matthews deserves game ball for Game 3

The Los Angeles Lakers continue to struggle on 3-pointers, but during the Game 3 win over the Phoenix Suns, it was an unlikely hero who delivered clutch shots to build the lead.

After Kentavious Caldwell-Pope went down with a left quad contusion in the third quarter, head coach Frank Vogel brought Wesley Matthews off the bench to be the shooting guard.

Game 3 marked the most minutes Matthews played in the series, as his 18:28 minutes of game time surpassed the 12 minutes he played in Game 1 and the four minutes he appeared in for Game 2.

But the reason Matthews played a series-high in minutes came from his ability to hit perimeter shots.

The 34-year-old shooting guard scored eight points, and six of them derived from 3-pointers. In the fourth quarter, Matthews drilled two shots from deep to widen the gap between the two teams.

He ended the game shooting 2-of-4 from 3-point range, but in the two games prior, he went 0-of-5, making Game 3 his best outing.

LeBron James took notice of Matthews’ production and said he deserves the game ball for helping the Lakers win, via Ryan Ward of LakersNation:

With Caldwell-Pope’s status ahead of Game 4 in the air, Matthews demonstrated he could rise to the occasion in a crucial situation if Caldwell-Pope is unable to play.