LeBron James ripped into the Indiana Pacers on social media on Tuesday night after the team let a late lead slip away against the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
James said on X how the Pacers should have fouled up three and not given Jaylen Brown the chance to swish the game-tying 3-pointer with under six seconds left in the game.
Indiana held the lead on the road for almost the entire last five minutes of regulation. After a turnover under the Boston basket gave the Celtics the ball down three within striking distance of the hoop, the play the home team wanted was obvious.
The Pacers had a timeout left and could have used it to see how the Celtics would be set up offensively. Boston was also already in the bonus, giving them two free throws with any Indiana foul.
‘And y’all still wanna know why I would foul up 3 EVERY SINGLE TIME??’ James posted to X.
LeBron James has detailed his theory on fouling up three points already once this month
Boston’s Jaylen Brown hit the game-tying 3-pointer against the Pacers at TD Garden
A likely change possession would have given the Pacers the ball back with the lead, despite limited time coming off the clock. James has been a proponent of fouling up three points before.
James also reposted a clip of himself being interviewed by JJ Redick from their ‘Mind the Game’ podcast from earlier this month, directly after the New York Knicks loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 5 of their first-round series.
The foul-up-three belief would have prevented a game-tying shot from Tyrese Maxey and would have ended that series one game earlier.
‘I personally, I would’ve fouled — I would have,’ James said to Redick. ‘I would have fouled before Tyrese even touched half-court.’
‘… It has to be on the downward dribble, if you’re going to foul, you have to foul on the downward dribble,’ James continued. ‘Sometimes, a lot of guys are afraid to do it, too. A lot of coaches are afraid to tell there team to foul when up three because either No 1, they haven’t worked on it.
‘Or No 2, it is, with our rules, it gets tricky sometimes and you send a guy to the free-throw line … I am fouling, I am fouling, I am fouling. Guys are too great,’ James continued.
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle took full responsibility for his team’s loss after the game.
‘I love the way our guys fought in this game; this loss is totally on me,’ Carlisle said. ‘With 10 seconds in regulation, we should have just taken the timeout, advanced the ball and found a way to get it in and made a free throw or two — and ended the game. But it didn’t happen.’
