LeBron James playing on Christmas has become a Christmas tradition. It’s almost become just as much a part of the holiday as opening presents wrapped under the tree.
Okay, maybe not that much but you get the point.
He’s been playing on Christmas for 20 years, or so it seems.
This past Christmas, James and his Los Angeles Lakers squared off against the Houston Rockets – losers of four of their previous five contests.
LeBron James playing on Christmas has become a Christmas tradition. It’s almost become just as much a part of the holiday as opening presents wrapped under the tree.
Okay, maybe not that much but you get the point.
He’s been playing on Christmas for 20 years, or so it seems.
This past Christmas, James and his Los Angeles Lakers squared off against the Houston Rockets – losers of four of their previous five contests.
What’s worse was the Rockets’ record on their recent road trip, as Houston was 1-4, dating back to December 15th.
Three of the losses were very close. One of them came in overtime against the Denver Nuggets – a game that shouldn’t have gone to overtime, based on the league’s confirmation of erroneous officiating.
Two of them – losses against the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings—came in overtime, in spite of the Rockets holding a double-digit lead in both contests.
And the most recent one against the LA Clippers on Sunday, saw Rockets coach Ime Udoka pull his stars in the fourth quarter, to send a message, as Houston lost 128-108 against one of the worst teams in the Western Conference.
Houston took the court with a sense of purpose, jumping to a 12-point lead after the opening period and maintaining a double-digit lead at the half.
Amen Thompson led the way for Houston, with 26 points (a game-high), while Kevin Durant had 25 points and was the Rockets’ key facilitator, dishing out eight assists.
Tari Eason was invaluable in the matchup, as he had 13 points and six stocks (yes, you read that correctly) after Rockets coach Ime Udoka inserted him into the starting lineup.
Houston was dominant on the glass, outrebounding the Lakers 48-25.
And on the offensive glass, which is especially where the Rockets thrive, they nabbed 17 offensive rebounds, compared to the Lakers’ seven.
Which is no surprise. Again, this is what the Rockets do.
They nab 16 offensive rebounds per night and 49 rebounds on average.
However, on primetime TV, everything is amplified.
Case in point, Lakers star forward LeBron James’ effort (or lack thereof).
The league’s all-time scoring leader was called out on social media by Sam Vecenie of The Athletic.
“Respect the hell out of LeBron, unbelievable player obviously. But his effort on defense hasn’t been good enough this year, and some of these offensive rebounding clips from Houston are egregious on his part.”
The video clip that Vecenie posted was a 1:15 reel that showed the Rockets grabbing offensive boards and getting easy putbacks. There were five possessions in which Houston got an offensive rebound while James was near the basket and seemingly didn’t give much effort to grab the defensive rebound.
At least according to Vecenie.
James finished with 18 points, five assists, two rebounds, two steals , a block, and three turnovers, as the Rockets cruised past the Lakers by a score of 119-96.