James entered the arena with a cigar in hand, ahead of a game with the top team in the West.
Most cigar-puffing athletes tend to save them for after a big win. Lakers forward LeBron James wasn't afraid to let everyone know he had one ready ahead of Tuesday night's game against the Suns.
As LeBron walked into Staples Center, he had a cigar in his hand. The scene got TNT's Kenny Smith pretty fired up during halftime of the network's broadcast of Heat-Pacers.
“That guy's walking into the arena with a cigar. Yo, that's disrespectful,” Smith said, laughing with his fellow analysts. “If we lose that game, and the dude came in with a cigar, yo. . . Shaq, I ain't a fighter, but I'll fight everybody in the locker room.”
Phoenix wouldn't let LeBron smoke that cigar in victory, though.
The Western Conference-leading Suns beat the Lakers 108–90, a result indicative of how the season has gone for both teams.
Phoenix continues to ride high after last year's trip to the NBA Finals. At 25–5 with Tuesday's win, Chris Paul and company have the NBA's best record. L.A., meanwhile, sits at 16–16 and is just 8–11 in the conference. The team is 10 full games behind Phoenix, sitting in seventh place in the West.
James had a monster game, scoring 34 points on 13-of-19 shooting, with seven rebounds and a pair of assists. He led all scorers. The team was without Anthony Davis, though, while the Suns got 24 points from Devin Booker, a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double from Deandre Ayton, and double-digit efforts from five more players, including three off the bench.
“Obviously, we are in a rough patch right now with guys in and out of protocol, guys who are injured,” James said after the game, per ESPN. “We just have to stay together until we become whole, or as whole as possible. But I love our fight. I thought we had a good fight tonight, we just couldn't make enough plays.”
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