LeBron James had a “easy” rationalization as to why he handed up a layup to dish the rock to Carmelo Anthony, who missed a game-winning, jumper within the Lakers’ 139-130 loss to the Rockets in additional time on Wednesday.
“I ended up behind the backboard,” James mentioned, noting that he thought he had an angle on the drive earlier than Houston’s David Nwaba entered his path.
“I used to be a bit of bit off-balance and I may have compelled a reverse layup, however I wasn’t within the place to really feel like I may have gotten an incredible look. I may have gotten an honest look and I really feel like Melo’s look was lots higher than mine.”
The Lakers had a chief alternative to ship the worst-in-the-West Rockets dwelling when James drove to the basket within the last seconds with the rating tied, 120-120. As a substitute, Anthony obtained the late move on the wing, and pump-faked to get his footing, however missed the shot on the buzzer.
Though James recorded a triple-double to go together with Russell Westbrook’s 30 factors and Malik Monk’s 20-point effort, it wasn’t sufficient to beat the Rockets, who dominated the additional time interval.
Westbrook, in the meantime, had his finest sport of the 12 months amid his months-long offensives struggles. But it surely’s the Lakers’ protection that’s largely in charge for the upset in Houston — LA’s ninth-straight street loss.
James additionally added 5 turnovers to his fifth triple-double efficiency of the season.
The struggling Lakers have now misplaced six of their final seven, except for a win over the Warriors final Saturday, when James dropped season-high 56 factors.
The ninth-seeded Lakers (28-37) would make the play-in match if the playoffs started Thursday.
The play-in match begins on April 12. If a crew is a ninth or tenth seed, they have to win twice to get out of the play-in spherical, which concludes on April 15.
