LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers are advancing in the league this season. They entered Monday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks with a record of 15-6, including a 4-2 mark on their current seven-game trip. They have become especially adept at disappointing road fans. In 13 street games, the Lakers have an 11-2 record.
And while the Atlanta Hawks made things interesting during Monday’s game, the Lakers controlled the battle all the time. This apparently didn’t go well for an Atlanta fan sitting on the court, who got into a fight with LeBron James and was kicked out of the game by security. Lakers announcer Bill Macdonald even jokingly compared the moment to the meme of a Desperate Housewives cast member pointing at an indifferent cat.
As James revealed after the game, the argument was between him and the woman’s husband, and he didn’t think they should be kicked out of the game.
“At the end of the day, I’m happy that the fans are back in the building,” James told reporters. “I missed this interaction, I need this interaction, we as players need this interaction. I don’t feel that it would be necessary to be expelled. There was a back and forth between two adult men. We said our part, he said his part, I said to my part, and then someone else jumped up and said their part. I didn’t think they should have been kicked out, but they might have had a few drinks maybe, and they could probably have gone on and the game wouldn’t be about the game anymore, so the referees did what they had to do. “
This is not the first incident that James had with a spectator during this trip. In a victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers last week, James missed a chance at the end of the third quarter and did not like the reaction of a Cleveland executive. He responded by scoring 26 points in the fourth period.
“I felt that he was a little too excited to see me lose,” James told reporters at the time. “He was very excited that I missed that chance. A little more than I would have liked. But he has to root for his team, obviously. And he was, he showed it. So I knew there was another quarter, and the fourth quarter is my favorite. “
The Lakers finally escaped with a win, giving them 12 wins in the year and sending them home for 10 of the next 15 games. Hopefully, it will be a while before LeBron gets involved with another road fan with a long stint in Los Angeles ahead.