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Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma gave teammate LeBron James a literal push on defense during Monday’s 113-105 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
In the closing minutes of another Lakers defeat, Kuzma shoved James in the back in an effort to get him to close on a three-point attempt by forward Danilo Gallinari, as seen at the start of this House of Highlights video:
House of Highlights @HoHighlights
Kyle Kuzma pushes LeBron on defense and Patrick Beverley flexed on the Lakers as they lost again.
https://t.co/dBP0zzXzry
LeBron has recently come under fire on social media for his defense, and last week he addressed the notion that he has dropped off defensively, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports: “I mean, every team has the right if they want to single me out defensively. Come on with it. Hey, listen, come on with it. Every team has the right to be like, ‘Oh, ‘Bron’s over there.’ Hey, just come on with it. … We’ll see what happens.”
The 34-year-old James is best known for his offensive exploits, but he is a six-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection, and in his career he’s averaged 7.4 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 0.8 blocks per game.
James had a team-worst minus-11 rating in Monday’s loss, though, and the Lakers are fading out of playoff contention at 30-34. They are 5.5 games out of the final postseason spot in the Western Conference with just 18 contests remaining.
The Lakers have lost five of their past six games—including a 118-109 defeat against the Western Conference-worst Phoenix Suns—so James and Co. will need far more than a little push to get themselves back in the playoff conversation.
from Viral News Updates https://ift.tt/2ITY7oq
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