LeBron James turned 39 on Saturday and nearly gave the Los Angeles Lakers a miraculous road victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The comeback began in earnest when James was fouled by Jaden McDaniels with 31 seconds remaining in the game, and as a gift to the NBA legend, Minnesota’s star defender also suffered a technical foul in the process.
That allowed James’ layup to turn a seven-point game into a three-point game in one possession.The Lakers then forced a timeout after Mike Conley missed a 3-pointer, and James ran the court to try to tie the game in transition. He constructed a sweater in just a few seconds and… swish! Tie, 109 apiece with 2.1 left on the clock. At least that’s what we thought. Instead, the officials called it a double instead of a triple.That was one of the best reviews you’ll ever see. Even with a close-up, it’s still not entirely clear whether or not James was in the game.This uncertainty ultimately led to the officials’ final decision. “The play was ruled a two-point field goal during live play. Upon review of the video, there was no clear and conclusive evidence to change it from two to three, and therefore it was a two-point field goal points” goal. “field goal,” team chief Tony Brothers told the pool reporter after the game.As frustrating as the call was, it didn’t put the Lakers out of the game. They were down by just one point with 2.1 seconds left and still had a timeout. Anthony Edwards made just one of his two free throws at the other end, and the Lakers ran an inbounds play to tie or win with 1.4 on the clock. This time there were no official problems. James himself gave the Lakers their chance by failing to make a shot before the buzzer sounded.James remained upset after the match ended. “It’s obviously a 3,” James told reporters after the game. “My foot is behind the line. You can see the distance from the front of my foot to the 3-point line. We can clearly see a blank, the wood on the ground is the space between the front of my foot and the 3-point line. Stevie Wonder could see it, champ. » He continued to think, “Why do we have repetition when even repetition is wrong? »The loss brought the Lakers to 17-16 this season and 3-7 since winning the NBA’s first-ever tournament of the season. Things don’t get any easier from here, as the Lakers still have half of those back-to-back games remaining when they travel to New Orleans to face the Pelicans on Sunday to close out the calendar year.James spent his career defying his father’s time, but on the night he entered the final year of his 30s, he looked a little too old to help the Lakers beat the Timberwolves.
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