LeBron James snapped the Los Angeles Lakers’ losing streak with a game-winning tip-in against the Indiana Pacers, giving the team something to finally celebrate amidst this rough patch.
James has been working himself back into game shape after missing time with a groin injury, and he continued to look good physically when the Lakers took on the Chicago Bulls. Los Angeles had plenty of motivation against Chicago as they were blown off their home floor last week.
That was a bad loss given how dominant the Bulls looked, and unfortunately Chicago managed to top it after Josh Giddey hit a half-court heave to beat the buzzer and hand the Lakers their worst loss of the 2024-25 season. It was a disastrous final minute for Los Angeles as they gave up multiple 3-pointers to allow Chicago to climb back in the game.
The worst moment came when LeBron James threw a poor inbounds pass that directly led to a Coby White 3-pointer. After the loss, James was critical of the play and gave Giddey credit for his shot, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I mean, we put ourselves in position to win. Gave up a lot of 3s in the fourth quarter, but still put ourselves in a position to win. Horrible turnover by myself. Bad miscommunication the play before that, but AR still hit a big bucket trying to save us and then you tip you hat when someone makes a game-winner from half-court.”
James also noted that the only way to get over a devastating loss like this one is to try and win the next game:
“There’s another game in less than two days. That’s how you deal with it.”
LeBron lamented the team’s poor defense in the fourth quarter as they gave up over 40 points:
“We can’t give up 40-plus. We gave up 32 in the first quarter and then we played great ball from there on, 26 in the second, 17 in the third. You give up 44 (in the fourth), it doesn’t matter how many points you’re up. It’s just not ingredients for success.”
James concluded that there’s no time to dwell on losses because there’s no changing results:
“That’s the NBA. That’s the NBA, you can’t go into a game on Saturday thinking about the game on Thursday.”
James has been in the league for a long time and understands the ebbs and flows of a regular season, but even he has to admit that this is particularly deflating. The only thing he and the purple and gold can do now is move on and hopefully win against the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.
LeBron James speaks about ability to impact games without scoring
LeBron James didn’t have a particularly efficient night shooting the basketball against the Bulls, going 8-of-20 from the field. However, James is more than just a scorer and he spoke about his ability to impact games outside of putting up points.
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