LeBron James was quite literally hopping mad during Saturday’s game against the Boston Celtics.
James and the Los Angeles Lakers were tied at 105 with the Celtics with 4.0 seconds left in regulation. The Lakers entrusted James to take the final shot, and he drove hard to the basket to try to win the game for the Lakers. James missed the layup and was absolutely furious about getting no foul call from the referees. He jumped around in anger and had all but a complete meltdown on the court before collapsing dramatically to the floor.
LeBron was not happy after this play to win the game. pic.twitter.com/FNMPBQTHox
— ESPN (@espn) January 29, 2023
Here is another angle of James’ tantrum.
LeBron furious pic.twitter.com/cN2K6chCSf
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) January 29, 2023
Instant replay showed why James was so upset. It does indeed appear that the referees missed a Jayson Tatum hack on James’ arm that affected the shot. The Lakers had already used their challenge earlier in the game however and couldn’t have challenged a no-call regardless.
I kid you not, LeBron may have just been screwed out of one of the most obvious & clear foul calls I’ve seen in a minute… How do you miss this?!
Come on bra @OfficialNBARefs lol pic.twitter.com/zvb6atxvxv
— Josh Reynolds (@JoshReynolds24) January 29, 2023
Another surreal moment came when Patrick Beverley protested the no-call by coming out onto the court with a camera and showing it to the referee. Beverley received a technical foul for the stunt. The one-shot penalty was assessed at the start of the overtime period.
LMAO PAT BEV GOT A TECH FOR SHOWING THE REFS THE LEBRON FOUL pic.twitter.com/imdiCidSlK
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) January 29, 2023
James, a notorious complainer, has been highly upset about the officiating for much of the season. But it looks like James had really good reason to be enraged about that particular no-call. The Celtics would go on to win in overtime 125-121 in what was yet another deflating loss for the Lakers.
