About

LA Lakers Eliminated From 2021 Playoffs refers to the National Basketball Association team the Los Angeles Lakers being knocked out of the playoffs for the 2020-2021 postseason. Due to the numerous circumstances that went into this elimination that make it different from the other playoff teams being knocked out, the event was memed across multiple sites and platforms in early June, mostly poking fun at the team's loss. Most importantly, the LA Lakers team is lead by Lebron James, who was the subject of many memes following their elimination.

Background

On June 3rd, 2021, the LA Lakers and the Phoenix Suns faced off in the first round of the NBA Playoffs for their sixth game. While at times the Lakers were ahead by as many as 29 points, the final score of the game ended up being 113 to 100 with the Lakers being eliminated by a ratio of two losses to the Suns' four wins (seen below).

The factor that makes this elimination important and so widespread in memes is that the Lakers were the previous NBA champions, meaning that they went from the best team in the league to losing in the first round of the playoffs, while not losing any important starters to the team. Another important takeaway is that the game was played in the Lakers stadium, and playoff games have a statistical history of favoring the home team.

Complicating the matter is that Anthony Davis, a starter and key playmaker, was injured before the game but was cleared to play, lasting five uneventful minutes before being pulled from the court. A photo that went viral during the game was posted to Twitter^[1] by user BullsFanRyan on June 3rd, depicting LeBron walking back to the locker room with 5:42 left in the game (shown below).

Online Reactions

After the game, there were countless reactions all over Twitter and professional sports commentator media. The reactions had many different angles to them: from Anthony Davis being obviously not game ready, LeBron leaving early then coming back and throwing a fit, LeBron never having left in the first round of the playoffs ever before, how LeBron's new Space Jam movie is now the only win he's gonna have, and him meeting up with Jimmy Butler in Cancun, a popular destination for offseason NBA players to relax.

On June 3rd, Twitter^[2] user PayJuanSoto tweeted a GIF of DJ Khaled suddenly standing up after noticing something in the distance. The tweet acquired 132 likes in seven hours and has been viewed over 1 million times in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Jimmy Butler watching Lebron get off the plane in Cancun pic.twitter.com/O5F44cobef

— CB (@PayJuanSoto) June 4, 2021

Another reaction involving Cancun, Twitter^[3] user jparks5405 tweeted a video of two men enjoying a nice drive at night saying, "Life like this sure is sweet huh" and captioned it "LeBron and AD on their way to Cancun," gaining 78 likes and 6,700 views in eight hours (shown below).

LeBron and AD on their way to Cancun pic.twitter.com/cVT01VMIOV

— jparks5405 (@jparks5405) June 4, 2021

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