Things got very tense for the Los Angeles Lakers in the final seconds of their game against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night. A late Dillon Brooks 3-pointer completed a Suns comeback and put them ahead by one point, but he would immediately run back and bump into LeBron James, leading to a second technical foul and an ejection.
That gave the Lakers a chance to tie the game, and with Austin Reaves out due to injury, most would assume Luka Doncic would take the free throw. But in a surprise, it was James who walked over and took the free throw on the technical foul. He missed it and put the Lakers in an even more dire situation as the Suns remained a head.
James was able to make up for it as he was fouled on a 3-pointer and knocked down two free throws to put the Lakers back ahead in an eventual 114-112 win.
But head coach JJ Redick clarified after the game that Doncic should have taken that technical foul shot, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Guys were out on the court, Luka and I talked, I thought Luka was gonna shoot it. I walked back (to the bench), LeBron was on the free throw line and shot it. I don’t know what the dialogue on the court was. Early in the season, we kind of designated who’s gonna shoot the technicals. Every team is different. Sometimes it’s the superstar, sometimes it’s the best free-throw shooter, sometimes it’s the guy who maybe needs to see the ball go into the basket. It’s all situational. But Luka should have shot that.”
When asked why he shot the free throw instead of Doncic, James didn’t see it as a big deal and said he simply walked up to the line to take the shot:
“[Expletive], I just walked up to the free throw line. Why wouldn’t I? I mean, I would’ve been OK with Luka taking it too. We’ve both been in pressure situations. I just took it. Unfortunately I missed it, but I made up for it.”
For as great as James is, he has never been an amazing free throw shooter, having never shot 80% from the line in a season. This season he is shooting just 61.9%, compared to Doncic, who is knocking down 81.1% on more than 12 attempts a game. So Redick expecting Luka at the line makes sense.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter as the Lakers did pull out the win, but had things played out differently and they lost after his missed free throw, there would have been a lot more criticism coming the way of James.
LeBron James just ‘competing’ with Dillon Brooks
Throughout the game, there were a number of incidents between James and Brooks, who have had drama dating back to the latter’s time with the Memphis Grizzlies. On two different occasions, James and Brooks had to be separated with the Suns wing even earning an ejection late in the fourth quarter for picking up his second technical foul.
But after the game, LeBron downplayed the animosity, saying that they are just competing with each other.
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