Rob Parker and Ephraim Salaam discuss whether LeBron James is too distracted by the Stephen A Smith situation to focus on the Lakers playoff push. James had a crucial turnover that got the Bulls back in the game with less than 13 seconds to go in Thursday’s loss.
Rob Parker:
"He makes the laziest pass I have seen. That was the ball game. All he has to do is inbound the pass. You can’t have a lazy entry...the three was also over him. I mean, it was just a bad comedy of errors in the final 13 seconds. Here’s my thing. Every night. Lucky to win the game against the Pacers. Like every game, you have Luka and LeBron. Every game is a nail biter. Every double-digit lead you’re having in the 4th quarter disappears. You can’t feel good about it, LeBron cannot. I’m sorry. You can’t be distracted and not play. They’re not playing well at just the time you want to have such a distraction and have this ongoing battle. The media isn’t going anywhere, and you’re not gonna win that battle. I don’t care who you are."
Ephraim Salaam:
"Social media makes it a little bit different, but before the media guy had the advantage because he can talk every day all day. You got another job. I don’t like the spectacle that’s going on. When you’re on the cusp of heading into the playoffs, trying to find the dynamics between the new team. Falling into the play-in is a disaster for the Lakers. You wanna be solidified. You wanna be in those top four seeds so you can spend the first round with home court advantage. And the way they’re playing, they have the second-toughest schedule down the stretch...the attention to detail is not there. That’s where all the turnovers come from."