LeBron made a public fool of himself yet again the other night, losing his cool and looking a fool over what he thought was a missed call.
With the score tied between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics with just seconds remaining in the game, LeBron James drove through several defenders and went up for a contested layup. He missed the shot amidst a crowded lane and obvious contact, crumpling on the floor in disgust as the teams prepared for overtime. The Lakers would go on to lose in the extra session.
Take a look below to see LeBron James lose his mind after the refs missed the call, throwing his hands up in the air and falling to the floor in overwhelming self-pity:
LeBron was not happy after this play to win the game. pic.twitter.com/FNMPBQTHox
— ESPN (@espn) January 29, 2023
Here was how Fox News covered the final play-by-play:
LeBron James was furious with NBA officials on Saturday night and Patrick Beverley received an untimely technical foul for sarcastically trying to show a referee they missed a call in the final moments of regulation.
In a 105-105 game between the Lakers and the Boston Celtics with about 4 seconds left, James went to his left and drove down the lane toward the basket. James was surrounded by three Celtics defenders and went up to the basket with his left hand and it appeared he was hit on the arm by Jayson Tatum.
James has made a career of expecting privileges in the NBA, particularly when it comes to foul calls. Now, the NBA has its own vested interest in protecting its stars and keeping the talent happy. It’s a smart business move, though it comes at the cost of raising a league of entitled crybabies. Still, for purists of the game, a blatant missed call does disrupt the natural progression of a game. In this case, NBA officials later admitted to missing the call.
In a pool report from tonight’s game, referee Eric Lewis admitted the officials missed a call at the end of regulation that would have awarded LeBron James potential game-winning free throws: pic.twitter.com/fFD8Gv70zm
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 29, 2023
The freak out from LeBron is less than surprising given his reputation for both flopping and publically freaking out on issues.
On the public freak out side of things, for example, LeBron went berserk after Brittney Griner had remained locked up in Russia for awhile, suggesting that were he in her position he might not want to come back to the United States. Speaking on that, he said “Now, how can she feel like America has her back? I would be feeling like, ‘Do I even want to go back to America?‘”
He later tried to backtrack in a tweet, saying “My comments on ‘The Shop’ regarding Brittney Griner wasn’t knocking our beautiful country. I was simply saying how she’s probably feeling emotionally along with so many other emotions, thoughts, etc inside that cage she’s been in for over 100+ days! Long story short #BringHerHome“.
Further, LeBron is also the king of the flop. As SB Nation put it, “LeBron is not only a top-three player of all time (we did our own research, sheeple!), but he is also at the top of the list when it comes to all-time floppers in NBA history.”
So for LebBron to a) lose his cool in a public, embarrassing manner and b) be breaking out over a minor foul and then flop as a result is no real surprise.
By: Will Tanner. Follow me on Twitter @Will_Tanner_1
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