At the 7:46 mark in the fourth quarter, Frank Vogel sat LeBron James down for good once the game was out of reach for the Jazz. After Kyle Kuzma stuffed Tony Bradley twice in a row, James was caught celebrating on the sideline with his shoes off much to the dismay of Jazz announcers Craig Bolerjack and Matt Harpring.
On Thursday morning James fired back on social media, quoting the following via Instagram:
"Imagine doing your job at the highest level to where you’re not needed anymore, giving your shoes to a lil girl and boy who you inspire and hoped you made proud that night, then cheering on your teammates cause you love seeing them succeed more than yourself only to be criticized while doing it. People it’s the world we live in and you can’t let it ever stop you from your purpose in life. Negativity, bad energy, hate, envy, etc etc will try to bring you down throughout your journey and it’s up to you on how you handle it. I handle it by simply saying “Thank You” with a 😁 on my face and continue to push forward while doing it! LIVE.LAUGH.LOVE 🙏🏾❤️👑"
I for one, don’t like the melodramatic tone LeBron used. More important than a little criticism should have been a great team win, yet the King went out of his way to call out Bolerjack and Harpring.
That, in addition to his political statement on Rockets GM Daryl Morey earlier this fall have tainted my fondness for King James. He has been one of the more vocal players in NBA history, using his platform as the best player in the NBA to speak out on current events, both on social media and in interviews. But lately, his comments have been rubbing me the wrong way.
On another play at about the 9:20 mark in the first quarter, James picked up his dribble and took two steps forward, and then started dribbling again. The refs didn’t see (or wouldn’t call) the travel violation, which led to Bojan Bogdanovic flailing his arms to get the attention of the closest official. After the game, James admitted he got away with a no-call from the refs, saying “I was ready to pass the ball, and my brain just kind of just, I had a malfunction. I really had a malfunction”.
Anthony Davis proceeded to score on the same possession. Fortunately for the NBA office, this blatant no-call didn’t impact the outcome of the game like another severe officiating error down in south Texas earlier this week.
LeBron James is one of the most polarizing figures in sports, and both his travel no-call and social media response to the Jazz announcers have generated just as much, if not more media buzz than the actual victory for the Los Angeles Lakers. That is how big of an icon LeBron is, especially when paired with the big market of Los Angeles.