LeBron James threw an invisible blunt pass to teammate Christian Wood during the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith responded to James’ viral video on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.
James led the Lakers to a 105-104 victory over the Rockets, handing Houston a two-game losing streak. The 38-year-old had arguably his best performance of the season against the likes of Dillon Brooks, scoring 37 points on 14-of-19 shooting, including 2-of-5 from beyond the arc. .
From an offensive standpoint, star big man Anthony Davis also had a great game for Los Angeles, scoring 27 points.
Instead, Brooks ended up leading the Rockets in scoring against the Lakers. He scored 24 points and hit six three-pointers in 41 minutes of playing time.
The Lakers have won five of their past six games after losing three straight games to the Orlando Magic, Miami Heat and Rockets earlier this month. Their only loss since Nov. 9 came on Nov. 15 against the Sacramento Kings, who are now on a six-game winning streak.
The Lakers lost to the Kings by 15 points because of strong performances from Sacramento’s two best players, De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. The former scored 28 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals, while the latter scored 29 points, 16 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 1 block.
James and the Lakers will be aiming for a third straight win when they host star big man Lauri Markkanen and the Utah Jazz in the in-season championship game on Tuesday. The Jazz have lost their last two games and have struggled to win on the road so far this season, with their road record sitting at 1-5.
After playing against the Jazz, the Lakers will face the Dallas Mavericks led by Luka Doncic on November 22.