"Welp, LeBron sold" - Lakers superstar scrutinized by NBA Twitter as clutch miscues cost LA dearly 

LeBron James and the LA Lakers fell short against the Houston Rockets on Sunday night. After trailing by 22 points in the first half, the Lakers fought well to have a shot at sending the game into overtime. However, back-to-back offensive miscues in the clutch saw the Lakers endure a 119-115 loss.

James was involved both times. With the Lakers trailing by four with 39 seconds left, he committed an offensive foul under the rim while trying to establish his position for an easy deuce. James amended that foul with a layup and cut the lead to two with eight seconds left after Anthony Davis got a stop on Alperen Sengun.

The Lakers fouled the Rockets' star center, who went one for two from the free-throw line and gave LA a shot to tie the game. However, James blew an in-bounds play on the final possession against Fred VanVleet, who made one of two free throws to seal the win for Houston.

LeBron James faced the brunt of the criticism online after those miscues. One fan wrote:

"Welp. Lebron sold."

One fan tweeted:

Another added:

"LeBron sold the game and I used to it"

"Huge choke job. LeBron, offensive foul with a minute left, we got Max Christie, throwing it directly to the other team on the inbound pass to the game, and then we got Anthony Davis literally bulldozing over a motherf*cker. Offensive foul. Championship teams don’t do this shi*t!" another said.

"lebron james failed me," one fan said.

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Replays show LeBron James called a timeout on in-bounds play, refs fail to spot

LeBron James pleaded to the refs that he called a timeout after Fred VanVleet top-locked him. The replays show James called a timeout, but the ref on the sideline was watching the ball instead. The Lakers superstar was also getting held down by VanVleet, and it could have been a foul in favor of the Lakers. Here's the replay:

The refs never reviewed the call. However, James wasn't willing to pin the blame on the officials. He said the Lakers lost the game because of second-chance points and suggested it's natural for refs to miss such calls.

Barring the late-game issues, James had a solid game. He tallied 21 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists on 10 of 18 shots, including 4 of 7 from 3. The Lakers dropped to 20-15 on the season.