LeBron James and his Lakers teammates were overcome with disbelief. They rushed to the monitor on the scorer’s table in Minnesota to see the play in dispute.
They pleaded and pointed at the zoomed-in image of the toe of James’ right sneaker and the blue three-point line it might or might not have touched.
James was sure he was behind it. Replay officials were not.
The shot, which would’ve tied the game and probably forced overtime, was ultimately ruled a two. They lost.
On Dec. 30 in Minnesota, the Lakers were an inch toenail away from a win, so close to some salvation after a brutal month.
Stevie Wonder can see that, champ,” James said after the loss. “… Over there in the replay center or whatever, somebody over there eating a ham sandwich, or somebody made the call.”
With the Lakers’ season over, a frame-by-frame examination of what happened isn’t necessary.
“Your eyes will tell you,” said one Lakers insider not authorized to publicly discuss team operations.
There was no need to enlarge or enhance, no reason to squint. The Lakers were good, maybe even close to better than that.
Yet they weren’t championship good and maybe not even contender good, a precious season gone with a first-round playoff exit and changes likely on the way.
Too many one-sided minutes, too much bad injury luck. An aging star. A controversial coach. An in-season tournament title and a midseason crisis.
It never was going to end with a trip to the NBA Finals. No need for video review to prove that.
Now that the Lakers’ season has ended, the impossible autopsy begins.
How good could the Lakers have been had they been healthier, had their two primary on-ball defenders — Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent — been healthy and a regular part of their rotation? How good would they have been if their coach, Darvin Ham, abandoned reliability and balance to lean into talent earlier by simply putting his most talented players on the court to start games?
Who is to blame? Who gets credit? Who returns? Who goes?
The questions start with James, who somehow established new highs in his 21st NBA season, playing 71 games (the most he has played in a season for the Lakers) and shooting 41% from three-point range. He averaged 25.7 points, 8.3 assists and 7.3 rebounds at 39 years old. No other player has done that after age 30.
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