LeBron James didn’t see Jose Alvarado coming. And the 4x NBA champion had the New Orleans Pelicans guard get the better of him when he pulled off a steal to help his side land points in their blowout 129-109 win against the LA Lakers. The veteran was foxed by Alvarado, and that had fans roasting him on social media.

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In addition to making wisecracks at his hearing, the memes were on full display as the Lakers slumped to their second loss in as many days.

With five minutes to go in the second quarter, James was dribbling his way to LA’s end but didn’t see Alvarado come up from behind and whiz past by pulling the ball away from him. And that steal resulted in a three-point play for New Orleans.

“One of Jose’s best sneak attacks here,” analyst Rob Perez described the play. “Notice how Taurean spots it, marks him, even tries to screen him to disrupt it … Alvarado still gets there anyway and rips LeBron because he cant hear Prince’s alert.”

One of the fans couldn’t resist a dig.

And the others followed suit:

The reactions continued to pour in:
LeBron James was outfoxed by Jose AlvaradoLeBron James was outfoxed by Jose Alvarado
James finished the game with 34 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists. However, that wasn’t enough, as the Lakers lost their back-to-back games. They are now 17–17 and eighth in the West.

LeBron James and the Lakers are struggling

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LeBron James and the Lakers are not having a great run after winning the In-Season Tournament. With a heavy home schedule coming up, the squad is in dire need of assistance outside of James, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reaves.

“It could hurt us in the sense where you start to feel comfortable because you’re at home,” James said. “So we have to understand that, yes, just because we’re home we really can’t relax now.”
Quite simply, the Lakers need to win as many of these games as they can if they intend to keep their championship aspirations alive. The good news is that the home stretch gives the team zero travel fatigue. The run also determines the front office’s moves ahead of the deadline.

With the team heavily linked to Zach LaVine and Dejounte Murray, there might be some reinforcements for LeBron James and co. The Lakers will play the Miami Heat next, followed by the Memphis Grizzlies. It remains to be seen whether they can sustain wins over two competitive opponents and get their campaign back on track.