The Los Angeles Lakers went on an 8-0 to conclude regulation to send their game against the San Antonio Spurs into overtime on Monday night at Staples Center. And that 8-0 run was capped off by a long three with 2.4 seconds left from some guy named LeBron James.
Tie game courtesy of the King!#LakeShow (📺: @SpectrumSN, NBA TV) pic.twitter.com/zh8QS7zoVy
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 23, 2018
Then things reversed in overtime.
The Spurs went on a 7-0 run in the final 52 seconds of OT, and got this jumper from Patty Mills that would serve as the game-winner in San Antonio’s thrilling 143-142 victory.
Hollywood Patty! @spurs beat the Lakers in an OT THRILLER! #GoSpursGo | #SASvsLAL pic.twitter.com/j6vEDGWNcJ
— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) October 23, 2018
That came after LeBron missed two free throws.
https://twitter.com/TheRenderNBA/status/1054602354870439936
And LeBron missed this stepback jumper with a chance to win the game at the OT buzzer:
That’s led certain websites to make the main story of the game how LeBron failed in the final OT seconds:
The ESPN front page 🙄 pic.twitter.com/XggHPH6vJ1
— Matt Clapp (@Matt2Clapp) October 23, 2018
But that’s an pretty unfair takeaway from the game, especially when LeBron, you know- hit a crazy three to even send the game to overtime. He also had 32 points (despite an ugly first half), 14 assists, and eight rebounds.
The bottom line is you can’t allow 143 points — granted, in a game with five extra minutes — and allow wide-open three after wide-open three like the Lakers did on Monday night (the Spurs were 15-of-28 on threes). The Lakers are very entertaining right now, and can certainly light up the scoreboard, but they’re going to struggle to beat the NBA’s top teams until their defense can take a step forward.
