LeBron James and Lakers Get Robbed in Boston, But He's Prepared (Once Again) by Darvin Ham's Late Practice (2023)

Lebron Jamesis inLakersHe failed to whistle accurately on the court in a couple of games this season. That trend exploded again on Saturday night in a brutal 125-121 loss after overtime.celtsIn Boston. At 105-105, the Lakers had an out-of-bounds sideline with 4.1 seconds left on the rule. LeBron spun for the tackle pass and went straight down the slope to get to the rim for a game-winning layup attempt.

He wasn't even drawing iron, and for an obvious reason. He obviously he was hurt byjayson tatum, which sliced ​​straight into LeBron's left forearm as bright as day.

Here's a closer look.

Forget about the fraudulent comment on the tweet. These games are not rigged. You just missed the call, plain and simple. According to multiple reports, the league didn't even wait for the next day's two-minute report to admit it missed the call.

You can understand that LeBron's frustration is reaching a boiling point. This isn't the first time something like this has happened to him or the Lakers this season. Heck, this isn't even the first time this has happened this month.

In fact, on January 12, James burned to no calls in a double-overtime loss to Dallas in another potential game-winning attempt; the Report of the last two minutes confirmed itChristian HolzIn fact, LeBron cut with the score and the last seconds marked the end of the first overtime.

So yeah, this is another tough loss for LeBron and the Lakers, who don't have the margin of error to absorb multiple steals late in the game. However, in the two examples above, the Lakers should never have been able to get hurt by the officials in the first place.

After defeat toostranger, Darvin Ham admitted he "kicked his butt" for not teaming uplukas doncicwith the Lakers through three at the end of regulation instead of letting him go one-on-one and eventually hit the game-determining 3-pointer.

But that wasn't Ham's first or biggest mistake in possession. He should have fouled the Lakers on Doncic's leadoff to prevent him or anyone else from playing a 3-Tyer.

I've said it a hundred times and I'll say it again. It's stupid that they let you foul on purpose, which should basically jeopardize your chances of success when you're leading by three points at the end of a game, it's stupid. But until the league finds a way to enforce its own rules with integrity, there's no statistical justification for allowing an opponent to attempt a game-winning 3-pointer by sending them to the free-throw line for two shots.

However, there are still coaches like Ham who are either too stubborn to accept basic math or too afraid of making a mistake; these are professionals, they should be able to realize that, to do the right thing. You'd think after watching Doncic tie the Lakers 3 weeks earlier, Ham wouldn't make the same mistake again.

But he did. With possession before James was deprived of potential game-winning free throws, the Lakers held a three-point lead with the clock ticking down to less than 10 seconds. LA had several opportunities to foul and prevent the Celtics from evening the game, starting withTroy Brown jr.. mipatricio beverlyhavemalcolm brogdondouble team no topo da chave.

Instead, they let Brown pass the ball to Tatum, who passed it toAl-Horford, who fired a triple in the corner. That's the shot defense that tries to protect against the entire game, and the Lakers like to let the Celtics shoot with the game on the line when they've had multiple foul opportunities.

Horford was wrong, but that's not the point. It's a terrible workout to be saved by luck... at least at first. See, the other problem with allowing teams to play 3 seconds to tie the game is that they're much more likely to generate an offensive rebound than a free throw, and in fact that's exactly what happened.

jaylen braunhe dove to catch Horford's error and finish a layup…plus the foul on Beverley. He took the free kick to level the game and you know what happened from there.

To put it bluntly, Beverly made an idiotic play by fouling Brown. You went up at three. Let the boy handle this. Trying to contest that spot is a catastrophic mistake. But things happen in chaotic situations. clock ends. Tight game. Loose rebound. Instincts and emotions take control. This scenario should never have happened either. Ham must order the Lakers to foul.

Those aren't the only late-game mistakes Ham has made this season. You could question your super small final formations a lot. did not play on saturdayrussell westbrookthe entire fourth quarter (smart) only to throw it on the fire in the middle of overtime (not smart).

Westbrook made some good plays in overtime and some bad ones. Again not the point. Unless he's reliable enough to be down in the fourth quarter, randomly putting him into overtime is a sentence, especially as part of a small three-guard lineup who can't shoot together.

A few weeks ago, Ham Westbrook completely missed the final possession of the game when the Lakers were one behind the Sixers, instead taking a timeout and making sure LeBron at least touched the ball at such a crucial moment.

Ham said after that loss that he never thought about taking a break because he was playing Westbrook vs.Joel EmbiidComparison.

"I'll be using this stage every day of the week and twice on Sunday," Ham said.

As I wrote then, and as I will write again, this comment is nothing more than Ham trying to protect Westbrook, and perhaps his own, by justifying a bad decision. This possession was a disaster and can be seen up close in slow motion.

Although Ham enjoyed the duel at first, after Westbrook lost the ball he could no longer function. If Ham had taken a timeout at that point, he could have planned a game with about seven seconds left to get the ball from LeBron and make sure the Lakers had a good view of the basket.

These are terrible decisions and they are costing the Lakers crucial victories they cannot afford to lose. It happened again Saturday when officials stole a Lakers game that Ham should have ended one possession earlier.