The Golden State Warriors came out on top in their latest matchup against LeBron James and the Lakers, but the story of the night was all about the refs. Down the stretch of the game, multiple fourth-quarter stoppages interrupted gameplay, and even LeBron James lost his patience.
“I’m too old for this sh*t,” said James as he waited to resume action.
“I’m too old for this sh*t.”
– LeBron. 😂😂😂
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) March 17, 2024
At 39 years old, LeBron James is actively trying to manage his minutes, and he clearly doesn’t enjoy waiting around needlessly for calls to be made correctly. At some point in the night, he also joked with the refs that he “had a flight to catch” as the minutes were ticking by.
“I got a flight to catch, come on!”
LeBron James isn’t a fan of these end of game delays 😂pic.twitter.com/klhNn2FOar
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 17, 2024
LeBron was laughing and smiling on the court, and trying his best to play it cool but frustrations were clearly boiling over for everyone when the interruptions just never stopped. During one stretch in the fourth quarter, it took over 15 minutes to shave just 15 seconds off the game clock.
On social media, fans were ready to start a riot and several top-level reporters/analysts called for the NBA to take this game as a call to action. It was a truly bizarre ending to the game and killed the momentum the prime-time event had in its final minutes.
While nights like these are rare in the NBA, they’ve become increasingly common over the past few years with the rule changes and the addition of the NBA review center. The officiating was already facing major controversy after a bad set of missed calls, but now the noise is louder than ever, and the demand for change has never been stronger.
The Los Angeles Lakers Lose A Crucial Seeding Game
Besides all the drama at the end, the Lakers have even more bad news to digest before their next game on Monday. LeBron James was fantastic tonight and dropped 40 points total, but somehow the Lakers still lost in pretty brutal fashion.
The answer could be in Anthony Davis, who left the game early due to an eye contusion he suffered in the first half. Predictably, the Lakers were never the same when he left but his constant coming and going from the lineup had been the story of his entire Lakers tenure.
This season, after a relatively hot start, the Lakers were hoping to re-establish themselves as contenders in the West. But instead, all they’ve done is show inconsistency at every turn. Tonight’s loss put the Lakers in a tie for 10th place in the West and now they are a whopping 3.5 games from the top six in the Conference.
At this point, it’s fair to say the Lakers are on the brink of collapse but that’s exactly what they said last year before LA’s Western Conference Finals run. No matter where the Lakers rank this season, if they can just make the play-in, and win those two games for the final playoff spots, then nobody will be able to ignore them as a major title threat.
As for LeBron James, he’s still more than good enough this season to make something happen but he’d rather not waste time with pointless replays or foul reviews.
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