LeBron James blasted coaches and teams for spinning narratives around the Lakers and their free-throw shooting.
The Lakers couldn’t overcome the Suns and fell to a 113-123 loss on the road to lose the momentum they had built before the All-Star break. LeBron James commented on the lack of free throws the Lakers received on the night, criticizing coaches and teams around the NBA for spreading narratives about the team’s free throw rate.
“That’s who we are. A lot of coaches and teams say ‘All the Lakers do is get to the free-throw line.’ That’s the narrative out there… I mean we have attackers, that’s what we do. We shoot the ball from the perimeter but we’re not shooting 40-50 3’s a game, we’re not that team and we don’t have the luxury of being that team… I know I was hit a couple of times in the paint but it wasn’t called.”
LeBron put up 28 points, seven rebounds, and 12 assists in the loss, trying his best to make something happen. But his frustration about the lack of free throws isn’t surprising given they just received eight shots tonight.
They entered this game sixth in the NBA in free throws attempted per game (24.3) and tied for first in fewest free throws allowed (18.9). Even though the Lakers are one of the worst teams at driving to the rim this season, their free throw count is very high. That could be because they rank No. 2 in the NBA in rim frequency and No. 5 in rim accuracy (per Cleaning the Glass). The Lakers rank No. 5 in post-up attempts, and No. 3 in possessions finished by the roll man. (per NBA.com)
Their style of play is designed to generate more calls. While fans of other franchises will always bring up Lakers biases when they analyze free throws, it was clear that their foul-hunting strategy failed miserably against Phoenix, proving that the team needs more ways to consistently score.
