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LeBron James Rejects Blame for Free Throws in Loss to Magic

LeBron James isn't buying into the narrative that free throws cost the Lakers in Thursday's loss to the Orlando Magic.

By Jason Schandl

Feb 7, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) gives post game interview following the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Crypto.com Arena. James became the NBA all time scoring leader passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
Feb 7, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) gives post game interview following the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Crypto.com Arena. James became the NBA all time scoring leader passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
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LeBron James and Anthony Davis are getting the brunt of the blame after the Los Angeles Lakers' 119-118 loss to the Orlando Magic on Thursday. Up three with less than 4 minutes left, the Lakers went a combined 2-of-8 on free throw attempts (6 of which were taken by James and Davis) to close the game. Even shooting 50% on those would have resulted in a win. James himself was 2-of-4 from the line on the night.

However, LeBron rejects the narrative that the free throws cost them the game. Instead, in a postgame interview he shifted the blame onto the entire Lakers' starting lineup.

Going back to the well with the "48-minute game" conversation, LeBron highlighted the third quarter as his first reason mentioned for the loss. The Lakers lost that quarter 29-21, and that comes from a -8 point differential to open the quarter for the starting lineup.

The entire starting five got about five and a half minutes of run together to open the third quarter, and it was the worst stretch of the game for L.A thanks largely to a three-minute, 13-3 scoring run from Orlando which gave the Magic the lead.

And after that? There was another 5-0 run later in the quarter. And the only Lakers who were on the floor for both runs? LeBron, Davis, and Austin Reaves (who also missed free throws late in the game). So talk all you want about the free throws not being the cause of the loss, but the blame falls on the same six shoulders.

That was a disappointing loss for the Lakers, for sure, but it's worth noting that having a six-game win streak to snap in the first place is a pretty good spot to be in. Whether you want to fault an ugly third quarter or poor free throw shooting late in the game, hiccups like this happen. There's no point in getting too beat up about it.

LeBron and company have a couple days to get things right after that collapse, as their next game comes on Saturday against the Denver Nuggets, and everyone will need to bring their A-game for that one.

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