The Los Angeles Lakers, who have been pretty awful for the majority of this season, were in good control of the clash against the Indiana Pacers. Coming off a 2-game win streak, LeBron James and co. led by as much as 17 points.
Advertisement
However, this young Pacers team displayed their resilience and managed to make a comeback. Backed by Bennedict Mathurin’s 8-point 4th period, Rick Carlisle’s boys won the action-packed contest, at the buzzer, 116-115.
Have a look at rookie Andrew Nembhard’s game-winning buzzer-beater.
Also Read: NBA Twitter Blasts LeBron James After Pacers Rookie Backs up his ‘Taunt’
Stephen A Smith holds LeBron James and Anthony Davis accountable for the loss
Looking at the box score, the LAL All-Star duo of Anthony Davis and LBJ had a pretty decent performance. While Bron recorded 21 points, seven rebounds, and three assists, AD had a solid 25/13 double-double performance.
However, it is in the final period of the bout that the two stars were underwhelming. Playing the entire 12 minutes, King James recorded merely 4 points on eight attempts, whereas, The Brow tossed up merely 2 FG attempts.
This is exactly what Stephen A Smith pinned the Purple & Gold’s loss on. In the recent episode of “First Take”, the ESPN analyst said:
“LeBron James and Anthony Davis are to be held accountable for what transpired last night. Here’s the reason why. The way Anthony Davis has been playing, how the hell do you take 2 shots in the 4th quarter against the Indiana Pacers?
Remember, he wants to be the number 1 option. Remember that it is something that he has demanded. So when you take that into consideration, you got a 17-point lead… what you do is, you really stop the bleeding. You don’t need three-pointers, you got the lead. What you need to do is, move the ball around and get it inside to that brother (Davis) and do what you need to do.
For me, I look at Anthony Davis and I’m saying ‘okay, you wanna be that man? Demand the damn ball. Get into some people’s faces. Tell them to stop messing around and give you the damn ball’.
I’m not knocking LeBron James for not scoring. I’m knocking LeBron James for not making sure that Anthony Davis gets that damn basketball and take more than 2 shots. That’s what I’m saying. Anthony Davis should’ve demanded it and LeBron James should’ve made sure of it that Anthony Davis had the ball.”
“Everything went wrong”: LBJ
The Lakers blowing a 17-point lead in the final quarter was the first time the same has occurred since 4th April 2000. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Lakers had won 378 such games, the longest active streak in the NBA.
Talking about the monumental loss, the 4-time MVP was pretty critical with his assessment of the game. In the postgame interview, the 20-year veteran said:
“We just gotta finish the game. Everything has to go wrong in order for you to lose a game like that and everything went wrong. We tip our hat off to them. They kept fighting and they kept pushing. They took the game from us and you give them credit.”
Also Read: Skip Bayless Finds More Ammunition as LeBron James and Lakers Suffer Agonizing Defeat
