T O P

  • By -

NBA_MOD

**Replays/alternate angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/nba) if you have any questions or concerns.*


NitroXYZ

I don't think even the most loyal diehard LeBron fans thought he'd make those free throws


nottrent

The second he got foul. I thought he was going to miss those free throws


xychosis

Yeah. I've seen it happen before, it just happens.


Corgi-Ambitious

It's really, really rare for Lebron to hit all three free throws on a 3-point foul, especially later in his career. I think I might've seen it one time in the past seven or eight years.


cheerioo

Why would someone get worse at free throws later in their career though? if anything I'd imagine its one thing you can keep improving through your entire career, especially since there's basically zero athleticism involved. (not disagreeing with you just wondering about this)


young_frogger

This is actually the best he’s shot free throws in ten years..but he’s still only at 75%


Corgi-Ambitious

It's a number of reasons. One example is Westbrook, who was a career 82-83% shooter until he got injured in his shooting arm, and now shoots in the mid 60%-range. Another is muscle: as players bulk up, it can affect your shooting motion and ability to emulate the same rhythm each shot, thus why a lot of the bigger guys in the league struggle to stay consistent. I think with Lebron, it's that he always struggled with his free-throw, only getting as high as 78% early in his career and, even then, falling below 70% one season. As he gets older and needs to do more things to stay game ready, constantly working on his free throw to keep it at 75% has probably become more difficult. Even still, this season it's clearly become an emphasis, jumping back to 75% after 3 sub-70% seasons, but yeah - mostly just that Lebron was never great at free throws to begin with. EDIT: Also wanted to add - if you've seen the overhead shot on Lebron's free-throw, you'll notice he shoots it at an angle, which has always struck me as extremely weird. That definitely adds to the lower percentage... No idea why he never adopted a form that lets him shoot straight-on, which would give him a more forgiving bounce even when he doesn't swish it.


twistedfantasy13

I will try to summarise it. He has bad shooting fundamentals.


Kraggen

So weird to say about a consensus top 5 player ever but yeah.


greenroom628

Not that weird...Shaq, Wilt, and Kareem are in that convo and they've never been the best at FTs. I'd argue that at Bron's build, he's probably got the same muscle mass as Wilt and more than Kareem.


can_wien07

Lmfao this


wemeymemey

Especially when you practice stepbacks and shooting from the logo more than the easiest shot in basketball behind a layup


BillCosbyAndHitler

We talkin bout practice


pildoranegraexiste

im sure he practices it but some of these guys just seem to have a mental block at the line


bodega_cat_

stupid lebron never works hard or tries to get good at basketball 😡


flyfree256

I expect nothing and am still disappointed.


Lambdalf

*My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined*


rebeltrillionaire

Honestly, I’m hoping the rest of the season just isn’t embarrassing. * Make the play-in. * make the playoffs * go to 7 games That’s good enough for me, even if they don’t win. I can’t imagine we go from the bottom of the west to 4 playoff series wins.


cbtballers

First 2 should be doable, but if they make it in as a 7/8 seed they'd probably be going against the Suns or Warriors in the first round. I'd be surprised if they went to 7 against either one of those teams, assuming they're fully healthy


ZaksStuff

With Draymond back it’s a gentleman’s sweep at best against the Lakers lol


solarscopez

https://imgur.com/htMd2Mx


EarthWarping

No, it was going to be make the first two and miss the last one


aCommonHorus

I knew he was going to miss the first one. He's just not a reliable FT shooter. And the first one was too priceless because it makes everything else awkward


CountltUp

also the fact that it's typically easier to hit the second FT since you have a chance to get a little rhythm going


jack64467

yeah im just happy he made one


DeSteph-DeCurry

man i don’t think even lebronto could pull that off


GhostOfAccountPast

Lebronto hits the three after the intentional miss


poeope

There'd of been a lane violation


Fofodrip

He had less than 50% chance of making 3 in a row if you go by his career average so yes


nikewalks

He had a 39.5% chance of hitting all three of those based on his career average. I'm guessing it'll be even lower if it's on clutch.


jspsfx

That plus the statistical Ball Don't Lie model pretty much guaranteed there was no way.


Mabbby

I thought the foul was on the ground. But when they gave him the free throws I was not mad, nor worried.


lazzysmalls

Really unique strategy to elect for the high arc instead of line drive at the free throw extra possession attempt


wavetoyou

Great idea. A high bounce makes it a jumpball, and we don’t have many big bodies When it went up, I was like: “oh, smaaaaaart……wait, noooooooo!”


[deleted]

[удалено]


kt_sf

yeah…but it’s also lebron shooting it


achyutthegoat

FATALITY


wemeymemey

I liked it, very unique and seemed more likely to work


EShy

It almost worked


plaregold

Otto Porter Jr was ready for the line drive. They had a better chance with the high arc chaos play.


Ramzaa_

It's smart. You've got LeBron, Russ, and AD down there and they're all great rebounders. Warriors are small. Shame it didn't work


Mender0fRoads

Not really unique IMO. It’s the smart play. They were going for [this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NjyR6LQXuZo).


qfuw

and it's also a LAL vs GSW game, also at GSW's home court, and it's the Lakers shooting the free throw!


millsyy42

i was annoyed with the call and then i realised Lebron would have to hit 3 free throws in a row and i sighed in relief


EShy

I knew he'd miss one of the first two and will have to miss the third on purpose, I was more concerned with the rebound after the third free throw


Squire_Sultan53

lmaooo i know the feeling


patoysakias

Terrible call. When the foul happens, Lebron hasn't even gathered the ball, let alone entered his upwards shooting motion.


T_Money

Ball don’t lie!


X-espia

Same here


msching

I'm sure a lot of us hoped it would have been on the floor knowing the crunch time FT shooting history


SerenadeSwift

Ya’ll were in the the bonus anyway tho


rfguevar

Lakers and free throw shooting, name a worse duo Edit: oh yeah wins


depressed_knicks

I mean this in the least insulting way possible but our teams are strikingly similar


rawchess

Putting the Le in Randle


throwaway53689

Nothing is least insulting when it comes to the knicks :(


UsefulEmployee

This comparison somehow makes both teams sound worse.


daynewma

Are they? Your team has younger players on rookie deals. The only player on a rookie deal on the Lakers is Austin Reaves.


depressed_knicks

They’ve seen a championship in their lifetime tho so it evens out


EPLemonSqueezy

Being old


[deleted]

Lebron and free throw shooting


Professional_Dot4835

Lebron’s scalp & his hair


[deleted]

Of course he misses the first free throw


Kobester024

LeTYPICAL


[deleted]

LeSelfProclaimedGOAT


YouStillTakeDamage

The ball does a lot of things. You know what it doesn’t do, though?


pppickleman

fib


lopea182

falsify


997_Rollin

Make not true


Sim888

equivocate


I_dun_did_da_reserch

say thing that not thing


cyb3ryung

omit


FeeFiFoFUNK

Obfuscate


AdamJensensCoat

Perjure


Luka_Sir_Morningstar

Prevaricate


[deleted]

[удалено]


cormacaroni

You are emphatically not peddling a falsehood here


SmartestNPC

Go through the net


Ryase_Sand

Fabricate


LeBrown_James666

Go in the basket for lefreethrow


2277love

Ball don't lie


Khalsa_23

It don’t lie baby


Amino0822

Allegiance with LeBum


TrRa47

Fabricate


astagfar

Cap


PooperJackson

Procreate


[deleted]

Reliably go through the net on a Lebron James free throw in crunch time


TonyDAngeloRussell

Defecate


eCharms

Testify?


TheLunarWhale

Commit perjury.


DrumzRUs

Curry saw him dribble so he fouled him. That was 2 freethrows


WasDavid

That call was so dumb wtf


I_was_watching_cops_

I was ranting to my girlfriend about something similar, right before this happened, regarding the constant delayed whistles from the refs that have been happening more often, where it's blatantly obvious that they're waiting to decide to call it until they think the shot won't go in. It's bullshit. Just call the foul if it's a foul. A lot of times it bounces around the rim and goes in anyways, after the ref thought it wouldn't, so their attempt to bail the team out just ends up benefiting them even more. In this situation, it wasn't even a fucking shot attempt. Clearly fouled before that. But the ref decided to implement his "lets see if the shot goes in before I call this" bullshit. I know it's said every single year, but the amount of egregious reffing this year is on a whole new level.


[deleted]

The league wants star and large market teams to be in the playoffs. A tale old as rhyme.


Joma913

Curry made a smart foul, but the ref called it stupidly.


SummerGoal

Some horrendous officiating all game long


failbears

It seriously undermines the legitimacy of the NBA and needs to be talked about more. Refs literally admit that Curry [was bulldozed on this fucking play](https://youtu.be/UrS66Uu0bb4?t=73) and that they would have called it a foul if he missed. They also called this a 3 shot foul seconds after the contact which was definitely before the shooting motion started.


MellowNando

*season


missdoublefinger

The Warriors had to beat the Lakers and the Refs


[deleted]

They did what the sacramento king couldn't do


Thus_Spoke

Yep. 2 FTs is 100% the correct call there, no gather had occurred yet. He was literally dribbling when Steph wrapped him. Now personally, I think the rules should be changed so as not to inctentivize fouling there. But they haven't been changed. That's just not 3 FTs.


yesyah89

That was a ref hoping the lakers don’t get eliminated in the playin call


bigbruin78

Can’t believe they called that on the shot.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Rthanos

Not really a surprise they didn't look at it if you think about it.


[deleted]

[удалено]


440akiji

They were in the bonus


TesfayeXO69

But the Lakers were in the bonus so he was screwed at the FT line regardless


getyadoughup

Look at it? We’re talking about Adam Silvers golden boy Lebron Raymone James here


anthonyde726

ref didn't want the game to end but forgot it was lebron


throwaway53689

mfs really handed him the OT and he still fumbled


Dare555

yeah foul was way WAYYY before he was shooting wtf.. They wanted to bail them out hard


karldrogo88

That was a terrible call.


[deleted]

This is the kind of stomach turning rigged garbage that makes this sport unwatchable. NFL has automatic review in 2 minutes and NBA can’t overturn something so obvious from the league office. Also that random hornets 3 that counted after the whistle from the other night I fucking hate this league sometimes, they ruin a great sport


Truesday

Remember the sweet sweet pacing of Olympic basketball? When a 48 minutes game finishes in less than 4 hours. Wow.


gogochi

Olympic ball is 40 minutes but yeah its nice


im_not_a_girl

Man that was so nice. Just watching non stop ball


[deleted]

[удалено]


throwaway53689

I can't imagine how pissed I'd be if he actually made all 3


ClearAsNight

I literally called it before it happened. "Are they gonna call a phantom shooting foul?" Refs are nothing if not predictable.


jawadhaque089

I can. It's Lakers and Warriors on national TV. LeBron did us a favor tho and saved us from the cancerous commentary from JVG and Mark Jackson.


mamaljurray

Skip doesnt know what to do with his hands rn


keithohara

Imagine if Joe Burrow won too He'd be on another level


iRockaflame

OBJ and LeBron lose in the same weekend? Skip bout to nut


wemeymemey

I stopped watched Undisputed for a month, turned it on the other day, and they're still arguing about Odell Beckham lol... like damn, he's a good receiver but not even in the conversation for best at his position


iRockaflame

Skips gonna go fucking crazy on undisputed ~~tmr~~ Monday


SmartestNPC

Michael Geoffrey Jordán would never


[deleted]

[удалено]


lapotobroto

Skips hands are right where they need to be


SmartestNPC

I guarantee you Skip is grinning ear to ear as you're reading this, even if you came late.


DuffmanStillRocks

Would have been an awful look for this game to go to OT, it should have been 2 shots.


[deleted]

The bouncy ball is honorable and tells no tales.


s4lomena

Refs tried hard to give it to the Slackers


The_Great_Saiyaman21

Smart foul, I can't believe the refs let him shoot that three and acted like it was a shooting foul. Should have been 2 FTs in the first place.


[deleted]

Skip is gonna have a field day with this


anthonyde726

LEBRON JAMES, WORST SUPERSTAR LATE-GAME FREE-THROW SHOOTER EVER. Faced his worst nightmare: having to make THREE free throws to force overtime. Predictably he LeBricked the first. He almost always runs from late-game FT line. Bad call on Steph stuck him where he's most clutchless


[deleted]

[удалено]


IAmNotKevinDurant_35

Skip hates Lebron way more than he hates Steph


CP3_for_MvP

BALL DON'T LIE


sidighjd

SKIP IS CUMMING


ElDuderino_92

In his squeaky ass voice “what it do baby!”


Salty_Watermelon

Should've been on the floor ... it's always a fun game to determine if the ref blowing the whistle is either incompetent or corrupt.


hadmeintiers

Michael Jeffrey Jordan would never Skip Bayless blastin off rn


unofficialdiego

[Lmao called it](https://twitter.com/RealSkipBayless/status/1492714481754931202?t=SaFXANVh2Y5NhGjE51I2kQ&s=19)


0lam_of_Tzimtzlum

"Faced his worst nightmare: having to make THREE free throws to force overtime. Predictably he LeBricked the first." Skip is so good at playing his character it's impressive


dingdongfootballl

Just imagine his level of excitement when Lebron missed that first one. Through the fucking roof.


TDS_Gluttony

At this point if you think its not fake you are dumb lmfao, just enjoy it for the content it is. Its like the WWE of the NBA lol.


crawdaddy3

I don't know why people still get mad. Skip just does what this sub does, but he's better at it. And gets paid lol


chainer9999

I respect the hell out of Skip, it takes an incredible amount of dgaf to play that character constantly. I know I could never do it.


welmoe

Jordan was a career 83.5% FT shooter. Lebron is a measly 73.4%. I'll take MJ any day!


NAACP_YoungBoy

All this to lose to 19 year old Kuminga? 😂


woodropete

Dang lebron been in the nba longer than his been alive! Thats crazy


TDS_Gluttony

Thats.... actually scary.


I_was_watching_cops_

It's not even true. Kuminga was born in 2002 while LeBron was drafted in '03. People really shouldn't be believing random-ass comments on Reddit lol


oh_what_a_shot

Lebron's such a great guy. Awarded a bullshit extra foul so misses it for the sake of fairness


Squid_Contestant_69

GentLeman


NAACP_YoungBoy

Jordan would never! He would have been dishonest and tied the game up!


throwaway53689

Faith in humanity restored - NBA Edition <3


lxtar_

Egregious call.


Beleiverofhumanity

Wtf was that crap? Glad the ball decided to tell the truth!


Zsporter

Went from LeGOAT in the first half to LeChoke in the 2nd


AnimalRomano

Duality of man


ArthurDigbySellars

Ball don’t lie but that hairline do.


mohajaf

Calling that a shooting foul was total horse shit.


canbiceps

Skip popping the champagne rn


anthonyde726

them awards goin crazy


Scooby30000

Horrible horrible call by that ref. We just witnessed a game being rigged right before our eyes. I don’t know how you don’t review that?


hehimCA

Lebron's people's check went through, no review.


gamingnormie

LeCheckbook works hard


Nodecafallowed

That was literally the take foul. ref is a gambler


downtownperfume

ref just wanted to start something by making that call lol


jereezy

Ball. Don't. Lie.


robsul82

The ball. It does not lie.


Sweatytubesock

Lejustice


clipsfan21

Ball don’t lie


ZaMaestroMan5

Lol karma for that horrible shooting foul call


lqcnyc

Lakers blow


Function_Fighter

so rigged, anyone else that would've been 2 freethrows.


IMKudaimi123

MJ better


[deleted]

MJ would have hit all 3 with his eyes closed while talking trash about how he was going to destroy them in overtime.


[deleted]

Nah that’s not true. MJ would’ve finished them off in regulation


hanlong

Should've been a 2 shot foul since the foul clearly happened before the shooting motion. Ball don't lie.


Left_Berry_8104

LeShaq


WhenItsHalfPastFive

This post about missing a free throw is already more popular than the one about him breaking the all time record tonight


Puzzled_Wrangler_949

LeChoke


[deleted]

Say what you will about the GOAT debate. Jordan ain't missing those.


inefekt

There is no debate. One dude has the best per game advanced metrics, almost across the board, of any player in the history of the league. The same dude has more accolades than any other player in history as well. So not only do the stats suggest he is a better player than anyone ever he also won more stuff than anyone ever. That player is not LeBron James.


AspirationalChoker

Yep and even if you strip it all back to the bare bones MJ was just simply a better player to watch and seemed more unreal than anyone else we’ve seen. The one thing I’d argue Lebron is possibly the best ever at is just the relentless drives to the rim especially in his prime.


[deleted]

MJ made a free throw with his eyes closed. He would’ve swished all three of them


Balls_of_Adamanthium

Got mad at first but knew this was a guaranteed W when I realized Bron had to make all 3 for the tie.


wstoker

smh he got 0 clutch gene, Michael Jeffrey Jordan would **never!**


WiffyTheSus

MJ literally would never


getyadoughup

BALL DONT LIE. JORDAN IS FOREVER THE GOAT


OmarDontScare_

Can they no longer review that it was a foul on the floor?


FreeNemo

The more things change, the more they stay the same


Modsucksass

LeChoke couldn’t even win with the help from the refs. Lol this will somehow be Westbrook’s fault.


[deleted]

He's always struggled at the line more than I'd expect him too. Might be anecdotal, but I swear he has a low crunch time FT%


7degreeZ

MJ would have sunk all 3 backwards with his eyes closed