LeBron James gave it his absolute all in Game 4 of the Los Angeles Lakers-Denver Nuggets series. It has been half a decade since James has been swept in the Playoffs (2018 NBA Finals) and in order to avoid suffering the same fate, he dropped 40 points, including 31 in the first half. Unfortunately for him, it was all in vain. His valiant effort on both ends hasn’t gone unrecognized however as Shaquille O’Neal, despite proclaiming Michael Jordan as the GOAT, wants people to respect ‘The King’.
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James is 38 years old and at one point had made 11 of the 13 field goals he attempted in a do-or-die Game 4 against the best team in the Western Conference. However, in spite of this all, NBA fans who have a personal bias against him will always try to find a fault in his game even though he was beyond stellar on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.
A former Hall-of-Fame teammate of LeBron’s doesn’t seem to be all too happy about the fact that he’s getting hate spewed his way.
Shaquille O’Neal defends LeBron James
Shaquille O’Neal, who played with LeBron James in the 2009-10 season and against him for the first 7 years of James’ career, has taken to his Instagram story to defend him after he dropped 40 points against the Denver Nuggets, starting off the message with, “I know y’all hate LeBron James.”
Shaq, while he has won at the highest level in the NBA an inordinate amount of times, he’s done so with several painful losses coming his way. Whether it was the 1995 loss in the Finals, the 1996 loss to the Chicago Bulls in ECF or time the Spurs and the Pistons embarrassed them in 2003 and ’04 respectively, O’Neal knows what it’s like to lose.
LeBron’s legacy isn’t defined by this Game 4 and even if it was, it certainly isn’t a blemish on his resume given the fact that he’s 38 years old and is in his 20th straight season in the NBA. Even Michael Jordan needed to take several breaks from the sport in his pursuit for greatness and that’s the man who Shaq considers to be the greatest of all time.
LeBron has alluded to retiring
LeBron James seems to have taken a step back from his ‘win-now’ mentality following this loss against the Denver Nuggets. During his post-game press conference, he said that he’d be mulling over the decision of retirement.
He claims to not know where he stands on the matter and that he’ll decide what to do over the summer. The ball is in the Lakers front office’s court. If they surround James with complimentary pieces, he’d be more inclined to return. If they don’t, he could very well bid farewell to the game of basketball for a year and return to play with his son, Bronny.
