LeBron James tried to do it all for the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday as he flirted with a triple-double yet again, putting up a game-high 27 points, nine rebounds, and 16 assists in 41 minutes of action. However, it would eventually amount to nothing, with his team suffering a hugely disappointing defeat against the league-worst Phoenix Suns, 118-109.
Despite another spectacular performance from James, however, he admitted after the contest that he has to take some of the blame for his team's unlikely defeat. LeBron committed a crucial turnover deep in the fourth quarter, which in his mind, was simply unacceptable.
Article Continues Below“That was just silly on my part,” James said, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “I thought I had a little bit more room to get it to [Ingram]. [Tyson Chandler] was kind of right there. Tried to throw it over [Chandler's] head and it hit the foam on the backboard. That was just stupidity on my part.”
Aside from the critical turnover, James also did miss two big free throws with just less than a minute of play. It would have been a single possession contest had LeBron sank both attempts from the charity stripe, but unfortunately for him and the rest of the Lakers, it was not to be. On the evening, the four-time league MVP went just 3-of-7 from the line.
This loss defines a new low point for the Lakers' season, as their hopes for a postseason run continues to get slimmer and slimmer after each loss. Now at 30-33, the Lakers remain four and a half games behind the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers with just 19 games left in the regular season.