LeBron James wasn’t thrilled with some decisions Tuesday night.
In Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, with the Pacers leading by three points with seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Celtics inbounded Jaylen Brown’s ball in the corner and made a dramatic 3-pointer to seal the game. I made it a tie.
This proved to be the catalyst to change the momentum as the Celtics forced overtime and took Game 1 on their home court at TD Garden.
But James said he would never allow that to happen.
“And you still want to know why I get 3 fouls up every time??” Posted by James on X Immediately after the bucket is an emoji of three hands covering their face.
The Lakers star then reshared a clip from his “Mind the Game” podcast from early May, in which he and co-host JJ Redick make a 3-pointer on the final tick of a basketball game. We discussed the merits of fouling the other team when leading by a point.
He said it obviously depends on the situation the team is in, but for example, when the Knicks had a three-run lead in Game 5 of their first-round series against the 76ers, Philadelphia hit a dramatic game-tying shot. He said it was a decided match. Tyrese Maxey’s deep trey — James said he would have fouled.
“Personally, I would have fouled. I would have,” James said. “I would have fouled before Tyrese touched half court. … It has to be a downward dribble. If you’re going to foul, you have to foul on a downward dribble. Sometimes a lot of players are afraid to do that. The reason a lot of coaches are afraid to tell their teams to foul when they’re up by three is, one, because they haven’t practiced it. Or, two, with our rules, sometimes it gets tricky and you send guys to the free throw line … Foul, foul, foul. Our players are just too good.”
Redick agreed, going so far as to say he would foul on a three-point lead “every time.”
Head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters after the game that he took responsibility for the loss.
“I love the way the guys fought in this game. This loss is completely my responsibility,” Carlisle said. “With the 10 seconds in regulation, we should have taken a timeout, advanced the ball, found a way to get it in, made a free throw or two and ended the game. But that didn’t happen. .”
The strategy may have worked for the Pacers on Tuesday, but instead they had another chance to win in regulation, but Tyrese Haliburton made a contested 3-pointer and missed. Boston took command in overtime. Win the series opener.
