It appears that the struggles that have beset the Los Angeles Lakers all season have started to affect the one player who has actually performed manfully throughout the campaign.
Their latest loss, to the Toronto Raptors, appears to have been one too many for the experienced NBA legend, who not only went on a verbal rampage but also got into an altercation with rookie Scottie Barnes with his Lakers now standing at 29-39 and having to hope for a place in the play-in tournament if they are to have any hope of making it to the postseason.
Given their recent run of poor form, it would take a bettor with confidence to make a sport prediction on the Lakers making it that far; such has been their woeful season thus far. It wasn’t meant to be this way, general manager Rob Pelinka pulled out all the stops to improve Frank Vogel’s roster, bringing in the likes of Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook, but things have definitely not gone according to plan.
LeBron James has been the only consistent performer on Vogel’s side this season, and even in their loss to the Raptors, the four-time NBA champion managed to drop 30 points, but he certainly wasn’t a happy man while doing so.
He repeatedly shouted at his team-mates who were not pulling their weight, and then in the third quarter, he took the ball and went out of bounds before throwing the ball off Barnes, spiking him directly in the face in the process.
One can understand LeBron’s attitude, and something needs to be done before the season is entirely ruined. Nonetheless, as the Lakers struggle, James manages to post incredible numbers, and he has now moved into second place in the all-time regular-season points scoring rankings.
He has overtaken Karl Malone, and only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is in front of LeBron James now, albeit he is some 1500+ points in front with a total of 38,387, to James’ total of 36,947 and on reaching the milestone the Lakers star stated;
“It’s an honor for myself, for my family and friends, and my hometown.”
Vogel commented in glowing terms, stating;
“Incredible game. Incredible season. I don’t know where we would be without him.”
And indeed, that’s the very apt point here. Without LeBron James, the Lakers would be far lower than they currently are, and that’s quite some statement when you consider that the Crypto.com Arena side sits in fourth place in the Pacific Division and in ninth place in the Western Conference overall.
LeBron has been very vocal at the poor show the Lakers have put in for much of the season and isn’t afraid to speak from the heart, while also still trying to maintain some optimism, at least until their season is mathematically over;
“At the end of the day, you keep pushing forward. I’m very comfortable being uncomfortable. So it doesn’t bother me too much,” LeBron commented.
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