Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Knicks may be out of the NBA Playoffs, but that didn’t stop a few petty New Yorkers from making fun of LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
You’ve gotta love New Yorkers.
On Thursday night, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns forcefully escorted the Los Angeles Lakers out of the 2021 NBA Playoffs with a dominant Game 6 victory. Anthony Davis’ groin strain obviously played a role in the defending champs’ early demise, and LeBron James didn’t look like his usual self coming off two ankle sprains during the regular season, but the Suns were clearly the superior team at this stage of the year and handled their business accordingly.
With James losing in the first round for the very first time in his 18-year career, people were quick to slander him and the poorly-constructed supporting cast of the Lakers. Even in the Big Apple, where the New York Knicks were booted from the playoffs in five quick games, some basketball fans couldn’t pass up the opportunity to celebrate the King’s downfall:
New Yorkers memorialized LeBron James and the Lakers
Yes, that is a faux memorial dedicated to LeBron James and his Lakers in the wake of their early playoff demise. While the Suns pulling off the first-round “upset” shouldn’t have been a surprise, the haters were quick to celebrate the King’s early exit, as well as the prospect of the first NBA Finals in a decade that won’t feature LeBron or Stephen Curry.
It’s clear the NBA is all set in terms of young talent, so even though Knicks fans shouldn’t be bragging right now, this is a pretty funny monument to LA’s figurative playoff death. And who knows? Maybe this came from Brooklyn Nets fans, who still have a team to actually root for in the postseason.