LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers losing to the Denver Nuggets in the 2023 Western Conference Finals opened the door for a lot of people to criticize him.
They not only lost to the Nuggets but were swept, losing the last two games at home.
Even though Anthony Davis struggled at times for the Lakers, some people still found time to criticize LeBron James.
Skip Bayless, as expected, took his chance to criticize the King, saying that he’s not clutch and lacks the closer gene.
“Nothing I’ve ever said about LeBron James is untrue. Nothing exaggerated, nothing fabricated. I’m sorry but I’ve been right about LeBron Raymond James from the start. He doesn’t have a clutch gene. Now it’s clear that he doesn’t have what I call a ‘closer gene.’ He’s not exactly ‘Mr. Fourth Quarter’ as great as he is.”
The Lakers getting swept proved my point that LeBron doesn’t just lack a clutch gene, he lacks a closer gene as well.
From this week’s @SkipBaylessShow:pic.twitter.com/VXby4rZq5S
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) May 26, 2023
It’s not unusual to see Bayless criticizing James, as he’s been more famous for that than anything else.
The veteran analyst doesn’t miss a chance to diss the Los Angeles Lakers superstar and another sweep for James was the perfect occasion for him.
Still, this season was a success for the Lakers considering they boasted a 2-10 record to start the season.
The King knows they overachieved considering all the time they spent as the 13th-ranked team in the Western Conference.
They made the right changes ahead of the trade deadline and the Lakers made a deep playoff run.
Unfortunately, the Denver Nuggets are on one this postseason and they had no mercy with the Lakers.
LeBron James had the chance to win Game 4 and give hope to his team, but Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon stopped him in on the last play to give their team a big win.
The Lakers will wait until next season to run it back and see if they can win another championship with LeBron on the roster.
James averaged 27.8 points, 10.0 assists, and 9.5 rebounds in 4 games during this series, but this wasn’t enough to beat Nikola Jokic and co.
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