Hall of Fame NFL tight end and Fox Sports 1 personality Shannon Sharpe made big headlines on Friday night when he got into it with multiple Memphis Grizzlies players during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena.
Sharpe started it by telling Dillon Brooks he was too small to guard LeBron James, whom Sharpe is an unapologetic fan of.
Sharpe also admitted during an episode of “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed” that he told Desmond Bane the Lakers would win in the closing seconds, even when they were down on the scoreboard.
“It was, like, 10 seconds before he got the ball stolen,” Sharpe said of when he made his comments to Bane. “He comes over, he looks dead in my eye, he said, ‘You know this game over.’ I say, ‘Either we’re gonna win it in regulation with LeBron [James] 3 or we’re gonna get you to overtime, but we’re winning this game.'”
With 13.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter and Memphis up 120-119, Bane had the ball off an inbound pass, and he found himself trapped by Juan Toscano-Anderson and Russell Westbrook. Then, Dennis Schroder came from his blind side, stole the ball, took it in for a layup, got fouled and made the ensuing free throw to put the Lakers up by two.
Despite committing a loose ball foul on the next possession, they held on to win, 122-121, despite trailing by double digits earlier in the contest.
For good measure, Los Angeles then went up to Portland on Sunday and overcame another sizable deficit. This time, it was down by 25 at halftime to the Portland Trail Blazers, only to prevail in the end, 121-112.
But its win over the Grizzlies on Friday snapped their 11-game winning streak. They had been the NBA’s hottest team coming into the game, and some were even starting to talk about them possibly being legitimate championship contenders despite having a young team.
At 22-25, the Lakers remain within striking distance of not only a play-in tournament spot but also of making the playoffs outright, as they’re just two games behind the Los Angeles Clippers, who are in sixth place in the Western Conference.
The Lakers and Clippers will face off on Tuesday in a contest that will likely have playoff implications.
Soon afterward, the Purple and Gold are expected to receive some reinforcements. Anthony Davis will likely make his return from a stress injury in his right foot this week, while new Laker Rui Hachimura, whom they acquired in a trade on Monday, could make his debut on Wednesday versus the San Antonio Spurs.
