LeBron James suffers incredible on-court meltdown after Lakers ‘cheated’ in dramatic loss to Celtics

NBA legend LeBron James was left with a meltdown for the ages after a late call against the Lakers on Saturday night.

The 38-year-old LA superstar lost his calm after being denied a potentially game-winning foul in the closing seconds against the Celtics.

4

4

4

4

LeBron scored 41 points and 9 rebounds on the night as the Lakers suffered a dramatic loss in overtime.

But LA felt “betrayed” after dramatic events in the closing moments of regulation time.

With a score of 105-105 and just seconds left, LeBron appeared to be hit in the arm by Jayson Tatum as he drove into the paint.

James had looked like he was going to win the game with a layup after a vintage game.

But he missed the shot by some, immediately bombarding the referees with complaints and pointing the finger at Tatum.

Replays showed there was contact between the two men, with Tatum appearing to smack LeBron’s arm as he stood up to sink the bucket.

James reacted angrily to the umpires’ decision to do nothing, which sent the game into overtime and robbed LeBron of a chance to win the contest from the free-throw line.

He gestured wildly across the court before falling to his knees and laying his face on the ground.

Teammate Patrick Beverley caught one of the season’s most bizarre technical fouls by showing the umpires a camera that reportedly revealed Tatum’s foul.

The Lakers couldn’t recover from the outburst of emotion, falling 125-121 after overtime.

It leaves them 23-27 on the season and marks their third loss in their last six games.

A devastated LeBron continued to question the call after the final buzzer.

He told reporters: “You saw my reaction. It’s challenging. I do not get it. I do not understand.

“It built up, you watched some of the games we lost this year, missed late game calls. We had the opportunity to literally win the game.

“The second in the last few weeks for myself, against Dallas I had an opportunity to win the game if the foul was called. I don’t understand what we’re doing.

“I watch basketball every day. I watch these games every day. I don’t see it happening to anyone else. It is strange.”

While his teammate Anthony Davis went further and criticized the referees for wanting to “cheat” his team out of the win.

Davis said: “We were cheated on tonight.

“It’s a blatant foul… To be honest, it’s unacceptable. The referees were bad tonight.”

To add salt to the Lakers’ wounds, referee Eric Lewis admitted after the game that his team had made a mistake.

Lewis told that Boston globe: “There was a contact. We didn’t see a foul during that game.

“The crew missed the play.”

Despite another loss for the Lakers, James continues to close in on the all-time NBA scoring record.

After his 41-point performance against the Celtics, LeBron is just 117 points from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time mark.