Lakers News: LeBron James Seems To Blame Refs For LA's Season-Low In This Stat Vs Suns

Fair?

Your Los Angeles Lakers mounted a semi-respectable effort for the final three quarters of their marquee matinee matchup against the Phoenix Suns this afternoon, but they ultimately couldn't overcome a brutal 45-28 first quarter deficit, and fell 123-113 to fall to a 31-28 record and the tenth seed in the West.

With the win, Phoenix improved to a 34-24 record and the fifth seed. Los Angeles started out the day as the ninth seed, while the Suns were the eighth seed.

After the game, All-Star LA forward LeBron James lamented the club's lack of trips to the foul line. The Lakers took a season-low eight tries at the charity stripe, a far cry from their season average of 24.3 per (according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic). The Suns, meanwhile, took 19 free throw tries, making 18.

James got four of those eight LA free throw tries, and only made one.

LeBron on the Lakers attempting a season-low eight free throws: "We have attackers that's what we do... we're not shooting 40-50 threes a game... we're getting to the paint that's what we're really good at so to have eight free throw attempts is definitely not us." pic.twitter.com/DZgZKSCFQ2

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) February 26, 2024

"We have attackers that's what we do... we're not shooting 40-50 threes a game," James said. "We're getting to the paint that's what we're really good at so to have eight free throw attempts is definitely not us."

The 6'9" superstar otherwise enjoyed a fairly respectable offensive night, notching a Lakers-most 28 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the floor (3-of-6 from long range), 12 assists, seven rebounds, two steals and a block.