If LeBron James Was Brian Scalabrine's Son His Ass Would Have Been on the Bench
By Kyle Koster
Jayson Tatum treated LeBron James as though he were Mercutio at the end of regulation the other night, making worm's meat of the Lakers star in an act of savage violence that went unpunished. The Celtics were able to prevail in overtime, perhaps because the entire Los Angeles team was still stuck in the moment or, in Patrick Beverley's case, physically taking cameras out of photographer's hands to prove that there should have been a foul.
James himself was apoplectic, stomping around and throwing a tantrum usually reserved for when mom and dad tell you it's time to get your stuff and go to school.
LeBron furious pic.twitter.com/cN2K6chCSf
— That's a highlight (@ClipIt_NBA) January 29, 2023
Chandler Parsons blasts LeBron James:
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) January 30, 2023
“I can watch my French Bulldog get ran over by the Mailman right now, and I would not react like that”
(via @FanDuelTV )
pic.twitter.com/QmICvH4f5A
It was awesome even for fans of justice. This story still has legs because arguably the greatest basketball player of all time is creating social media content around it to get through what appear to have been some long, sleepless nights.
This LeBron and Tatum exchange about last night 😅 pic.twitter.com/o5CLoNSMif
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 30, 2023
So it's not really surprising to see such childish antics compared to other childish things and have someone apply the same rules to James they'd use for their own offspring in the local YMCA game. It's still tremendously funny, though, that Brian Scalabrine got in front of a microphone and said this through laughter.
The Lakers lost in overtime on Saturday night against the Celtics.@TheFrankIsola & @Scalabrine chime in on LeBron's reaction to the no-call on his last-second drive in regulation#LakeShow pic.twitter.com/3RTNSF6KoK
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) January 30, 2023
“I just basically was surprised and shocked that they didn’t call the foul,” Scalabrine said. “… It’s LeBron James. He got hammered. I just don’t get it. I personally don’t get it. Now, I don’t agree with the fit afterwards, and if my son did this, and the game went to overtime, he would be taken out, but hey. That’s just me.”
Hell yeah, that's tough love right there and I do not disagree with it. The only problem is that James is not Scalabrine's son or my son. He's LeBron James. And if he'd been benched it'd be the story of the century and the Lakers would immediately been taken off life support and made to be as comfortable as possible as the era ended. Compared to fourth-grade action where the fallout would simply be a tense car ride home.
In conclusion, different players get different coaching. Especially when one is 38 and the other just mastered the art of shoe-tying.