LeBron James owned the Los Angeles Lakers‘ late-game collapse in Chicago leading to the Bulls’ improbable come-from-behind 119-117 on Thursday, March 27, that kept them from getting a separation from the Memphis Grizzlies for the fourth seed.
“Horrible turnover by myself and that miscommunication [on the inbound play],” James told reporters after the game. “The play before that [Josh Giddey shot], AR (Austin Reaves) still had a big bucket to try to save us, but then you tip your hat as Josh made the game-winner from halfcourt.
The Lakers blew a 16-point fourth-quarter lead with the Bulls outscoring them 44-26 with 11 3-pointers capped by Giddey’s Hail Mary shot at the buzzer.
“We gave up a lot of 3s in the fourth quarter but still put ourselves in a position to win,” James said.
But James blew their chance to win a winnable game.
LeBron Turns From Hero to Zero
James turned from hero to zero in 24 hours.
After his game-winning tip-in at the buzzer, his eighth career buzzer-beating game-winner that tied the late Kobe Bryant behind Michael Jordan’s nine, in Indiana on Wednesday, March 26, James gave it back with his endgame boo-boo in Chicago.
James was in the middle of the last three botched Lakers play that allowed the Bulls to close out the game with a 9-2 run in the final 12 seconds.
James lost his man, Patrick Williams, who hit the corner 3 that sparked the Bulls’ wild comeback. Then after that, his inbound pass intended for Reaves was intercepted by Giddey, who quickly fed Coby White for another 3 that put the Bulls ahead 116-115 with six seconds left.
Coming off a Lakers timeout, Reaves tried to save the day with a strong drive to the basket for a 117-116 Lakers lead with three seconds left.
Then Giddey made the halfcourt heave right in James’ face at the buzzer to his and the Lakers’ horror.
How Do Lakers Bounce Back From Such Heartbreaking Loss?
Instead of going to Memphis to face the Grizzlies — who just fired their head coach Taylor Jenkins — in a crucial tie-breaker matchup feeling good about themselves, the Lakers head there reeling from their worst loss of the season and their fourth defeat in their last five games.
Lakers coach JJ Redick could only think of one word to describe the mood in the locker room.
“Devastation,” he told reporters after the heartbreaking loss. “It’s a hell of a way to lose a basketball game.”
Luka Dončić was as dejected as everyone else in the Lakers locker room.
“It’s hard to lose like that,” Dončić told reporters. “We basically had the game in hand and when you lose like this, it’s hard, especially on back-to-back [schedule]. I think we fought hard so it’s hard to lose like that.”
Where do they go from here?
“You gotta process it,” Dončić said. It’s a tough way to lose but it is what it is.”
“We’re not in a position to feel sorry for ourselves,” Redick said.
“That’s the NBA,” James added. “That’s the NBA. You can’t go to a game on Saturday thinking about what happened on Thursday.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post LeBron James’ Stinging Admission After Lakers Blow Bulls Game appeared first on Heavy Sports.