NBA twitter clowns LA Lakers as LeBron James loses shoe on hilarious final play and Dennis Schroeder misses game-winning three

LeBron James and the LA Lakers lost 134-130 to the Charlotte Hornets on a bizarre play in the closing seconds of the game. The four-time MVP lost his shoe while driving to the rim before falling down on the floor just as he passed to Dennis Schroder.

The German international missed the shot, which all but ended the Lakers’ chance of at least tying the game.

Basketball fans were quick to react in the way the Lakers lost this game:

“This might be the worst loss in the LeBron-era Lakers.

"Losing to an 8-win worst team in the league in the last game before Christmas Day is the point of no return”

The Charlotte Hornets took a 132-130 lead following LeBron James’ goal-tending violation against Gordon Hayward’s layup. James was spectacular down the stretch as he led the Lakers to a huge 16-point comeback. His layup with 30 seconds tied the game.

The 18x All-Star dropped 18 of his game-high 34 points to give the LA Lakers a chance to win the game even without Anthony Davis. He just couldn’t finish his scintillating display after that weird sequence that cost the Lakers the game.

Playing in front of their home fans, the Lakers kept fighting. Charlotte’s big third quarter saw Darvin Ham’s squad trailing for most of the final period. The late-game rally gave the fans reason to cheer but they still went home disappointed after their team couldn’t finish their surge.

The LA Lakers are now 13-19 and out of the play-in spot if the regular season were to end today. They will now finish the year with four straight games away from Crypto.com Arena.

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LeBron James and the LA Lakers were beaten yet again by their inability to stop the fastbreak

The LA Lakers' transition defense failed them again tonight.

For most of the season Darvin Ham has been harping on the LA Lakers’ need to keep opponents’ fastbreak points in single digits. Tonight, they gave up 29 points, which basically cost them the game. Charlotte’s 16-point lead came mostly out of their ability to run the floor.

LaMelo Ball, who will never play for the Lakers according to his father, was his usual incredible self, particularly when running the break. The Hornets relentlessly put pressure on the Lakers defense everytime they had the ball.

LA’s shooting tonight was on point. On most nights, hitting 52.2% from the field, including 43.2% from deep would have won them the game.

They could and should have done much better with their transition defense. It's all about effort on that area and the Lakers didn't show it tonight.

Before the game against the Hornets, they were 29th in fastbreak points allowed in the NBA, giving up 16.7 per game.

After surrendering 29 to the Hornets, they have likely replaced the Houston Rockets as the worst team in that category. The LA Lakers have several things to fix to get back on the winning track. They can’t control when and how injuries happen, but they can certainly play with more effort on defense.