LeBron, AD “Taking Charge” Against Milwaukee Bucks

Imagine two politicians engaged in debate. Each begins to crush softball questions with expertly written, prepared answers. Then someone goes off script and the real show begins.

These politicians are now out of their comfort zones. Do I attack? Do I defend myself? This isn’t working! What do I do now?

Moments like these reveal true character. The Los Angeles Lakers revealed a lot about their character in an uncomfortable environment Thursday evening in Milwaukee. It was not pretty.

The Lakers lost, but it was the way in which they lost that has me questioning whether King James deserves to wear the crown in 2019-20.

Let me show you what I mean.

LeBron, AD “Taking Charge”

Beginning of the 4th quarter. Giannis is playing out of his mind. AD can’t hit a 3 to save his life. LeBron is -15 plus-minus. Nothing is going right for LA, but they are only down 8.

This is where LeBron takes over, right? Wrong! James had already conceded defeat.

The old LeBron didn’t back down to anyone. The old LeBron relished defeating the league’s toughest opponents. Thursday night was my first glimpse of the new LeBron.

You know those 2K players who full court press and then attempt to take charges with all their players, hoping the opponent sprints into them? It almost never works, right? It is the sign of a player who knows he cannot beat you conventionally so he tries to foul out your best players. A sign of weakness.

I never ever ever ever thought I would see this defense in the real NBA … and especially not from the supposed king of the league.

LeBron looked at the scoreboard and noticed two things. His Lakers were down 8 and Giannis had 4 fouls. At this moment, LeBron calculated that his team had no chance if Giannis remained in the game. In LeBron’s eyes, the only way he was going to win was if Giannis picked up 2 more fouls and was disqualified from the game.

This is a shocking admission from King James and one that I wouldn’t have believed had I not seen it live.

via GIPHY

What did you think was going to happen, LeBron!? Pouting like a baby afterwards did not help my perception of the play, either. Very very weak.

I shook my head a bit after I saw this live. It was a fluke, I thought. Even the G.O.A.T makes mistakes. A momentary lapse in judgement. Then this happened less than 1 game minute later …

via GIPHY

Was this a planned strategy by LA? I can only imagine the Lakers’ huddle. Hey guys, instead of playing defense, let’s just hang out by the half-court line, run into Giannis, and hope the ref calls a charge. That’ll work!

When your two best players are admitting that drawing charges is the only way to slow down the other team’s best player, you are in trouble.

The Lakers are 24-6. That is a superb record, but 15 of those 24 wins have come against losing teams.

Let’s look at legit title contenders the Lakers have played. The Mavs – LA is 1-1 against them. The Clippers – LeBron lost Game 1. The Bucks – same story.

Don’t let the record fool you, the Lakers are not playing like world beaters right now.

The Christmas Day Clippers-Lakers rematch will tell me a lot about LeBron and Co. Can the Lakers rebound or will they continue to flop against good teams?

Merry Christmas! See you on top!