LeBron James received quite the unwanted birthday gift on Saturday night, in the form of a controversial late call. James thought he had hit a huge three-pointer to tie the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but it was ruled a two, and he is not happy.
“Sooooooooooooooo!!!!! WTF. Helluva Happy Bday gift to me.”
Had it been ruled as a three as LeBron clearly believes it was, it would have tied the game at 107 with 3.1 seconds remaining. Instead, the Los Angeles Lakers found themselves down 1.
LEBRON CUTS THE LEAD TO 1 WITH SECONDS REMAINING ‼️
Lakers-Timberwolves | Live on the NBA App
📲 https://t.co/W8EOdsTN6y pic.twitter.com/tkJYTk8eMW
— NBA (@NBA) December 31, 2023
They got another chance to tie or even win the game after Anthony Edwards only made one of two free throws, but James failed to get a shot off on time. It meant the Lakers lost 108-106 to fall to 17-16 on the season. As for LeBron, he ended the game with 26 points, 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 1 block.
Darvin Ham Stated It Was A Clear-Cut Three
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham certainly felt it was a three-pointer as well. When asked for his view on the call, Ham said it was very clear-cut for him that James was behind the three-point line.
“The view I had, I thought it was a clear-cut 3,” Ham said. “… They replayed it, our guys on the sideline replayed it. We thought it was a good 3. I just saw a still shot here a couple of seconds ago, that definitely looked like a 3. But they have people in other places looking at those plays too, very closely and although I disagree, we have to live with it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dv-alFKNPg
You just have to live with it, but I don’t think LeBron will get over it for quite a while. This result does put a bit more pressure on Ham, as their record is well below expectations.
LeBron James Went Off On The Officials After The Game
Getting back to LeBron, he felt it was very clear that there was a gap between the front of his feet and the three-point, and he couldn’t understand how it was ruled a two. In his post-game press conference, a visibly upset James blasted the officials.
“I mean it’s obvious a 3, my foot is behind the line,” James said. “You can see the space between the front of my foot and the 3-point line… Stevie Wonder can see that champ.”
LeBron said the officials on the court told him it was not in their hands. The NBA Replay Center was going to make the final call, and he felt someone out there was eating a ham sandwich.
“It’s super frustrating in the sense of what the hell we got replay for? What do have replay for if even a replay gets it wrong? Who’s a part of the Replay Center? Like we got robots in there that making a test list? What’s going on? If you don’t see that, that is clear… It doesn’t make sense,” James stated.
Tony Brothers, one of the officials on the court, stated in the Pool Report interview that the Replay Center didn’t feel there was conclusive evidence to overturn the call. A two-pointer was the initial call, and as it wasn’t clear enough for them that his feet were behind the line, they stuck with it.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
