Scottie Barnes and the Toronto Raptors picked up a very impressive win against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Toronto held leads of 21-2 and 30-6 in the first quarter, giving them more than enough cushion to withstand a late comeback by LA and win comfortably.
Barnes was one of the stars of the show, piling up 15 points in the first quarter and finishing with 21 on the night. He likely could’ve ended up with more, but Toronto seemed to take their foot off the gas late. This game did little to help Frank Vogel’s job security.
As James and the Lakers tried to make a run, LeBron pulled off a move that very few Raptors fans are going to defend. While fading out of bounds, James tried to get the ball to go off of Barnes. The only problem with that is the fact that he seemed to pelt the ball as hard as he could at Barnes’ face.
The only way to figure out if James was doing this maliciously is if he comes out and says it, which is not going to happen. While no one was injured as a result of this play, this is not a good look for LeBron or the Lakers. You be the judge. Was this play out of bounds for James?
You talk about "intent" LeBron was definitely trying some garbage here pic.twitter.com/sewQz2YHEf
— Vivek Jacob (@vivekmjacob) March 15, 2022
Toronto Raptors: Was LeBron James’ play against Scottie Barnes dirty?
James scored 30 points on 11-19 shooting, but a good chunk of that scoring came after the Lakers were down by 20 and the Raptors weren’t going all-out. With LA’s No. 11 overall pick heading to Memphis, the irritation James is playing with is palpable. It manifested in that questionable Barnes play.
For his part, Barnes said that he just tried to cover his face when he saw James preparing to throw the ball. It doesn’t sound like Barnes is interested in going after LeBron for this play. However, if that ball was a few inches to the left and it hit Barnes in the head, we might have a different story.
“I was on the floor and I saw him loading up … so I just tried to cover my face.” - Scottie on LeBron whipping the ball at him.
— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) March 15, 2022
This has been as frustrating a season as humanly possible for the Lakers. Russell Westbrook has been a disappointment, Anthony Davis has consistently been hurt, and the bench has been forced to use players like Weynen Gabriel and DJ Augustin to eat up some minutes.
Still, throwing the ball at a borderline defenseless player at that velocity is not going to win him any extra admiration from a franchise and fanbase that has been burned one too many times by LeBron throughout his career. To say the least, this was not the best look.