On Wednesday, LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers squeaked past the Golden State Warriors to claim the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
There was some questionable officiating in the game, which caused the son of journalist Rich Eisen to question why James always gets the benefit of the doubt from the referees.
My 12 year old son just asked: “Why do they always call fouls just because LeBron wants it?”
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) May 20, 2021
In the fourth quarter, the Warriors Juan Toscano-Anderson was called for a charging foul when he made contact with James. Golden State challenged the call, as it felt it was an obvious blocking foul on James, and it won the challenge.
It’s been axiomatic throughout NBA history that superstars like James have a high level of clout when it comes to getting calls in their favor.
Although the four-time MVP had a bad shooting game, he still posted a triple-double and drilled an improbable game-winning shot to lift the Lakers to victory.
L.A. will now face the surprisingly good Phoenix Suns in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs.
