Although the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, 109-108, it certainly wasn’t pretty.
One reason why was a huge anomaly in LeBron James’ stat line.
Although he shot 14-of-27 from the field to lead all scorers with 30 points, he didn’t attempt a single free throw all night.
It was only the 14th time in 1,214 career games that he didn’t take a free throw, according to ESPN.
Coming into Saturday’s game, James was averaging just 5.9 free-throw attempts per game, by far his lowest figure in that category since his rookie season.
After the game, teammate Jared Dudley offered one possible explanation as to why James sometimes doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt from referees.
“Someone of his caliber that attacks the basket, he doesn’t really try to fool you and try to grab your arm a la [James] Harden or everyone,” said Dudley. “He just tries to overpower you and it’s tough sometimes to get that [call].”
One has to admit that James is arguably the toughest player in the league to officiate. Because of his unprecedented combination of size, strength and speed, it can be hard to gauge what a legitimate foul is.
In a previous era, legendary Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal had to deal with the same alleged inconsistencies from the referees.
