Luka Doncic’s final play against the Orlando Magic was defined by a single, shocking moment of hesitation. It was the Los Angeles Lakers’ second loss in a row. However, the most surprising thing here was Doncic not being in his element. Shy and hesitant are not words that come to mind when thinking of the Slovenian. He had the ball, but he faltered after catching it, leading to a rushed pass to LeBron James and a brick thrown up at the buzzer. After losing 110-109, Doncic took full responsibility before the blame game set in.

“I just saw him open,” Doncic explained to reporters who sought clarification about the final sequence. “I didn’t want to lose the ball, and we didn’t have timeouts. But like I said, I shouldn’t have picked up the ball. I should have attacked. I thought I was getting a clean look, but that’s on me.”

On the final possession, Doncic came off two screens from Austin Reaves and Deandre Ayton, with Anthony Black and Paolo Banchero left scrambling to get to him. However, instead of taking the open shot, he hesitated, and that was the deciding factor. By the time he thought of his next move, it was too late.

James, who caught the ball from Doncic, had Jonathan Isaac, one of the Magic’s best defenders, draped all over him, and had to take a tough turnaround three-pointer off the catch, an extremely difficult shot for anyone to make. In the aftermath, Magic center Wendell Carter Jr. managed to box out Ayton, which denied any putback opportunity, and let Orlando take home the win. Perhaps one reason Doncic hesitated to shoot was his struggles throughout the game.

Doncic made just eight of 24 shots tonight in an unusually inefficient outing that saw him miss shots from all over the floor. To make things worse, he also shot two of 10 from deep and four of nine from the free-throw line.

That said, what does his partner in crime on the court have to say about the last possession?

LeBron James presents his “POV” and dodges responsibility for the missed buzzer-beater

Unlike Luka Doncic, who directly blamed himself for the missed shot, LeBron James‘ thoughts on the final possession were far less introspective, telling reporters that he thought the team had executed the play perfectly.

“Obviously, you have to ask Luka what he saw on that,” James said in his post-game conference. “I thought he had a good look, and it looked like he kind of just lost his balance. Didn’t have a rhythm with the ball, whatever the case may be.”

James pointed to Doncic not immediately shooting as the reason Paolo Banchero was able to catch up to him on the three-point line.

“I was kinda off balance when he gave it to me, I thought he had a great look, but that’s my POV,” James concluded.

James didn’t outright blame Doncic, but he clearly didn’t take part in the blame, and through all his comments about execution, defensive recovery, and the clean look, one thing became clear: the opportunity was there. While the 41-year-old was blunt about his thoughts, he also missed an important free throw with 44.7 seconds left. Hence, this should be classified as more of a team failure rather than pinning the blame on Doncic.

The Lakers are 34-23 with the sixth seed in the Western Conference. They next face the Phoenix Suns on Thursday and the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, both on the road.