Magic Johnson questions Lakers for playing LeBron, | College News
Magic Johnson is fairly lively on X.
The affable and well-liked Lakers legend typically will give his observations on a selection of topics. Not surprisingly, NBA basketball and the Lakers are of explicit curiosity to the Showtime-era icon.
Typically, Johnson’s posts are of the extraordinarily non-controversial selection. Here are a couple of samples from Sunday morning:
After the Lakers’ 116-113 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, nevertheless, Johnson had one thing of substance to say about a determination made by his beloved crew, which is now on the brink of playoff elimination. After trailing by three factors at halftime, the Lakers rallied to guide by as many as 12 within the third quarter however had been unable to carry on to their benefit down the stretch within the fourth.
In that second half, Lakers coach JJ Redick didn’t make a single substitution, which means the identical 5 gamers — LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith — performed all 24 minutes.
Johnson was vital of that call in an X post after the Lakers fell behind within the sequence three video games to 1.
“I dont know if it smart to play LeBron and Luka the entire second half after only having one day of rest between Games 3 and 4,” Johnson wrote. “When we needed LeBron to take over in the fourth quarter he couldn’t — he scored 0 points in the fourth.”
OK, so it’s not essentially the most scathing critique on the planet, but it surely was a critique nonetheless. Johnson added that he’s “just sick to my stomach that the Lakers lost this game after being in control most of the 2nd half.”
The five-time NBA champion did throw in some more typical-sounding posts concerning the recreation as nicely.
Doncic — who was hampered by a abdomen bug during the Lakers’ Game 3 loss on Friday — completed with 38 factors, together with 14 within the second half. James — who, at 40, is the oldest participant within the NBA — completed with 27 factors, however solely three of these got here within the second half (three free throws within the third quarter).
Asked by a reporter after the sport concerning the determination to experience with the identical 5 all through the second half, Redick merely mentioned, “We just made the decision at halftime.”
The sequence returns to Crypto.com Arena for Game 5 on Wednesday evening.
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