{"id":1910130,"date":"2026-04-30T06:45:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1910130"},"modified":"2026-04-30T06:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T03:45:35","slug":"lebron-james-shrugs-off-jabari-smith-jr-s-were-better-comments-im-too-old-for-that-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1910130","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James shrugs off Jabari Smith Jr.\u2019s \u2018we\u2019re better\u2019 comments: \u2018I\u2019m too old for that s\u2014\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. called his shot Tuesday. On Wednesday night, Houston made it look real.<\/p>\n

The Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 99-93 in Game 5<\/a>, trimming their series to 3-2 and sending the first-round matchup back to Houston \u2014 one day after Jabari Smith Jr. declared the Rockets were \u201cobviously the better team.\u201d<\/p>\n

LeBron James wasn\u2019t interested in engaging.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t care about s\u2014 like that, bro, the game is won between four lines,\u201d James said after Game 5<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t give a damn. Who cares?\u201d<\/p>\n

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If anything, the 41-year-old future Hall of Famer expected it.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, you would say that,\u201d James continued. \u201cWhy would you say, \u2018No, we\u2019re not the better team?\u2019 Ask them young guys that question. I\u2019m too old for that s\u2014.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For a second straight game, the Rockets backed up their young star\u2019s belief. Smith led the Rockets with 22 points, while James finished with 25, 11 coming in the fourth quarter. Houston shot 44 percent from the field and 35 percent from deep, converting 14 3-pointers to the Lakers\u2019 seven. The Rockets\u2019 defense forced 15 turnovers and, despite Los Angeles building an 11-point lead at one point, fought back to stave off elimination.<\/p>\n

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{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

All of this happened without the services of all-world talent, Kevin Durant, who missed his fourth game of the series with a bruised right knee. In his absence, Smith carried the load, while Alperen \u015eeng\u00fcn contributed 14 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, prior to Game 5 in Los Angeles, Smith was asked to clarify where his belief that the Rockets were better than the Lakers came from and in what aspects he felt they had an advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like, from top to bottom,\u201d Smith said. \u201cYou can say that\u2019s an opinion. You can say I\u2019m biased, but I just think we\u2019re the better team.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Lakers, behind James, Austin Reaves returned from a Grade 2 oblique strain, his first game since April 2. In 34 minutes off the bench, Reaves scored 22 points, while Deandre Ayton added 18 points and 17 rebounds.<\/p>\n

The series now returns to Houston for Game 6 on Friday, with the Rockets trying to do what once seemed impossible: turning a 3-0 deficit into a Game 7. For Smith, his view hasn\u2019t changed.<\/p>\n

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Asked Jabari Smith Jr. about talking that talk and standing on bidness\u2026 even when he knows the opposition has access to the internet pic.twitter.com\/NEbiVVDx6z<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Law Murray \ud83e\udeba (@LawMurrayTheNU) April 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a mindset to have,\u201d Smith told reporters postgame on Wednesday. \u201cI don\u2019t care who we play, I don\u2019t care what team I\u2019m on.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you got to get on court and prove it. You can\u2019t just say it and then come out and tuck your tail. You got to get out there and fight and do the things that it takes to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the Rockets are trying to do exactly that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. called his shot Tuesday. On Wednesday night, Houston made it look real. The Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 99-93 in Game 5, trimming their series to 3-2 and sending the first-round matchup back to Houston \u2014 one day after Jabari Smith Jr. declared the Rockets were \u201cobviously the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1910130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1910130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1910130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1910130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1910130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}