Who’s Most to Blame For Lakers’ Choke Job: LeBron James Facing Backlash Just a Day After Lakers Heroics….

On Thursday, James powered the Lakers to a 120-119 victory over the Indiana Pacers after he cleaned up a Luka Doncic miss and delivered the game-winning tip-in. The next day, however, he and the Purple and Gold ended up on the wrong end of it, as Josh Giddey launched a game-winning half-court shot that went in at the buzzer for the 119-117 Chicago Bulls win.

While James was hailed for his heroics in the Pacers showdown, he received plenty of criticism in their loss to the Bulls. The 40-year-old forward committed a couple of mistakes toward the end of the fourth quarter, which proved costly for L.A.

Unsurprisingly, fans and critics alike made sure to point that out after the game.

“Lebron with horrible defense and a horrible inbound pass,” a commenter wrote, referring to his poor defense that led to a Patrick Williams triple with 9.8 seconds left, as well as his subsequent inbounds pass that led to a Josh Giddey steal and Coby White 3-pointer to give the Bulls the 116-115 lead.

Another one agreed, “Horrible game by Lebron tonight vs the Bulls. He just looks old! He made a bunch of mistakes in the 4th quarter. Watch the film.”

A critic added, “LeBron lost us the game. Horrible double on Vuc and a mindless inbounds to White!”

“What a horrible sequence of plays by LeBron here especially in final seconds. Pretty much gave up 6 points in matter of seconds. Very uncharacteristic of him to be that careless with the inbound play,” a social media user noted.

“THIS TURNOVER BY LEBRON WAS JUST PATHETIC,” a poster stated, referring to his costly inbound pass.

A sixth viewer stated, “Lebron has been a turnover machine the last few years. Absolutely baffling lack of concentration. Cost them the game.”

For what it’s worth, LeBron James took accountability for his mistakes, particularly the crucial turnover at the end. He admitted that it was “horrible” and a product of “bad miscommunication.”

While the Lakers were able to retake the lead after those mistakes from James and only lost because of Giddey’s miracle shot, the fact remains that L.A. wouldn’t have been in the position to lose had the team executed better and closed the game properly.