LeBron: Pacers should have fouled up three on final possession

One of basketball’s most hotly contested debates in recent memory has to do with a common late-game situation.

If you’re up by three with the shot clock turned off and in the bonus, should you foul the opponent to send them to the line and prevent them from shooting a three, or should you let the possession play out?

While it’s hard to prove if either answer is correct definitively, most people have staked their claim on one side or the other. LeBron James weighed in on Tuesday.

Late in regulation in Tuesday’s Eastern Conference Finals opener between the Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics, Indiana found themselves in this exact situation. Up by three with a chance to steal Game 1 on the road with eight seconds remaining, the Pacers chose not to foul the Celtics and it led to a Jaylen Brown game-tying three with six seconds to play.

Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton would go on to miss a three at a buzzer to send the game into overtime where the Celtics came away with a 133-128 win.

Immediately after the sequence, James weighed in on X.

“And yall still wanna know why I would foul up 3 EVERY SINGLE TIME??” James asked.

It’s impossible to know what would have happened if Indiana fouled. Maybe Boston would have gotten the ball back with a chance to win anyway, or maybe the Pacers would have moved one step closer to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2000.

[ LeBron James ]

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