Lakers News: LeBron James Chastises Pacers' Late Game 1 Defense Vs Celtics

Indiana fell in OT to Boston during the first contest of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Mar 29, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) shoots the ball while Indiana Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith (23) defends in the second half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports / Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Lakers All-Star combo forward LeBron James may have been eliminated from the playoffs two rounds ago (by a team that itself is no longer playing in the Denver Nuggets), but that doesn't seem to mean he's stopped watching.

On Tuesday night, James weighed in on the late-game fourth quarter decision making of the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers during the first contest of that underdog club's Eastern Conference Finals road clash against the Boston Celtics. Indiana had led the Celtics by five points heading into the final 57 seconds of the match and, had it held on to win, could have stolen homecourt advantage from the 64-win Celtics.

Instead, power forward Pascal Siakam instantly fouled All-Star small forward Jaylen Brown, who nailed both his shots.

Andrew Nembhard promptly nailed a 19-foot step back jumper, the Pacers sloppily turned over the ball in consecutive offensive possessions (but Jayson Tatum blew a fadeaway jumper attempt in between those possessions), and suddenly the Pacers were leading by three points, with the ball, with 8.5 seconds left in regulation.

Siakam, Indiana's best defender, was draped all over Brown, and clearly had been given the directive by head coach Rick Carlisle to not foul the swingman. So Brown made the most clutch bucket of his life, a side three pointer falling away, to tie the game at 117-117 with six seconds left.

Watch EVERY ANGLE of Jaylen Brown's WILD 3-pointer to send Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals to overtime!#NBAConferenceFinals presented by Google Pixel pic.twitter.com/FCvVApOmpR

— NBA (@NBA) May 22, 2024

Tyrese Haliburton heaved up a three point attempt on the other end instead of attempting to drive, and the game went to overtime. Boston eventually outlasted Indiana there, winning 133-128 to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

James took to X to criticize the decision not to foul Brown in that situation:

And yall still wanna know why I would foul up 3 EVERY SINGLE TIME?? 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️

— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 22, 2024

"And yall still wanna know why I would foul up 3 EVERY SINGLE TIME??" James wrote.

It's a salient point. Brown is a 70.3 percent free throw shooter, and in a high-pressure situation like that, there's a decent chance he'd botch at least one of his three foul shots, thus returning the ball to the Pacers while trailing.

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