“You have to have the killer will, you have to have the supreme Jordan-esque confidence to say ‘I don’t care who you are’” - Skip Bayless on Lebron James shying away from making clutch free throws
LeBron James and the LA Lakers suffered a shocking defeat Wednesday night, falling 139-130 in overtime to the last-place team in the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets.
The Lakers (28-37) are in dire need of a good run. They haven't won consecutive games in two months and have gone 7-18 since Jan. 9 and 1-6 since the All-Star break.
Losing to the Rockets, who had lost 13 of their previous 14 outings, left many bewildered. Coach Stephen Silas' team entered the game with a 16-49 record and had suffered losing skids of 15, 12 and eight games this season.
Lakers fall short in OT to the Rockets behind LeBron's triple-double
"This was as overrated and misleading a triple-double as you will ever see." — @RealSkipBayless https://t.co/5sIS07tG7R
Fans and sports commentators have reacted extensively to the loss, and Skip Bayless didn't miss out. The "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed" host reiterated his stance on James as always, highlighting his fatal flaw of not being able to close out games from the free-throw line.
"He is an all-time great player with one fatal flaw – the inability to close games, because he doesn't trust himself at the late game free-throw line," Bayless said. "I'm sorry, it's as simple as that. It has cost his team seven or eight games this season, because LeBron ran from the late-game free-throw line.
"You have to have the killer will, you have to have the supreme Jordan-esque confidence to say, 'I don't care who you are.' And especially when it's a team that has lost 13 of 14 games in 17 of 19 games."
Skip Bayless believes LeBron James' triple-double is overrated and misleading
LeBron James totaled 23 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists while adding a steal and four blocks in the LA Lakers' 139-130 overtime loss to the Houston Rockets. It was his fifth triple-double of the season.
23 PTS | 14 REB | 12 ASTLeBron James posted his fifth triple-double of the season but the Lakers lose in overtime, 139-130, to the Houston Rockets.
@lakers #NBA75
📊 23 PTS | 14 REB | 12 AST https://t.co/mwj8uyd9w6
However, analyst Skip Bayless believes the triple-double is overrated and misleading as it does not tell the story of the matchup. He also said the Lakers always seem to find a new low despite thinking they had hit rock bottom.
"I'm getting tired of talking about the Lakers, who get more baffling to me by the night," Bayless said. "Because just when I think they've hit bottom, they find a new low. This was as overrated and misleading a triple-double as you'd ever see. It's why I don't love the stat of triple-double, because it does not tell the tale of what happened in the game."
Bayless insisted that the only stat that truly tells the story of the game is the plus-minus analysis. He revealed that the plus-minus stat pegged James at minus-17, making him the worst player on the court for both teams combined.
"One number that did tell the tale, if you look at the plus-minus of the night, LeBron James was the worst on the floor of either team at minus-17," Bayless said.