Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets wasn’t as tight as some closeout games are.
On the contrary, the Lakers were up by 26 points after three quarters. Despite Los Angeles holding a comfortable lead, LeBron James played in the fourth quarter.
It drew criticism from sports analyst Skip Bayless, who slammed LeBron for playing for stats when the winner of the game is clear.
“LeBron, finishing his 17th season, obviously should take the rest of the night off. It’s a predictable blowout. But he won’t. Stats time,” he tweeted.
“Come on, Bron, get that triple double with your team up 25 or 30,” Bayless added later.
“Finally: LeBron exits after playing the first 6:30 of the 4th quarter during a blowout. I predicted his points on the nose (29) but he was two short of my rebounds (13) and four short of my assists (11). Sorry,” Bayless tweeted after James exited the game.
