LeBron James and his Los Angeles Lakers have won nine straight games, which has vaulted them back into third place in the hotly contested Western Conference.
While the oldest player in the league was subjected to a lot of criticism when his teammates won the first three without him, the four-time champion has come back to prove that the team needs him.
James has played efficient basketball since returning from his elbow injury, and that was one of the catalysts for the Lakers' run of impressive wins against playoff teams.
That has helped turn the overtly critical narratives into nothing but praise for the 41-year-old. Now, those who were questioning his motives started to understand that LeBron James may be one of the reasons the Lakers have such good chemistry.
Now, against the East-leading Detroit Pistons, that bond was going to be tested to the limit. Even though the home team was playing without leading superstar Cade Cunningham, some felt they still could put up a good fight in front of their fans.
So they did, keeping the Lakers at bay for a long time. It seemed as if the men in purple and gold could not get anything going, and a set of plays explained why that was happening.
In one instance, James was about to go off for a shot, but a Pistons defender hit him on the hand. But no foul was called. On another instance, the league's all-time leading scorer went off on a fast break, layed the ball in, but did not get a call for an obvious foul from a Pistons player.
Those and several other clips proving the lopsided officiating made their way onto social media. Fans felt that not only was LeBron James visibly impeded on many occasions, but the Lakers as a whole also could not get anything going.
They took to social media to express their frustrations, as it became evident to them that the league did not want the franchise to win this game. Check out examples of those reactions below.
LeBron James finished the game with 12 points. He made up for that lack of production by dishing out 10 assists and grabbing 9 rebounds. However, it was how he ended up with such low points that had the media inquisitive.
Whether those fouls were the reason or not, LeBron James, who has been extremely efficient of late, surprisingly registered his third-ever game where he could not score a single point in the first half.
I thought he played a really unselfish game, ended up with 10 assists. We missed him a couple of times… I thought he did a good job of not just trying to score, but make the right play like he always does, and he gets 10 assists.
JJ Redick told reportersThis was the Lakers' head coach's response when asked about his former podcast co-host's performance after that zero-point first-half performance.
JJ Redick, who does not shy away from calling out officials, did not go through that door. Instead, he chose to divert the blame onto himself and the team's schemes for not allowing LeBron James to shine.
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