Clippers head coach Ty Lue was frustrated with the foul baiting of the Lakers following their game.
The Los Angeles Clippers dropped a close contest to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, 125-122.
The game came down to the final minutes, but the Lakers were able to hit big shots, draw some fouls, and get enough stops to hold on for the victory.
After the game, Clippers head coach Ty Lue addressed the "foul baiting" that the Lakers are often accused of, given how much they get to the line.
“[We] just had to play through it, keep competing and keep your head. You just have to get through it. When you're foul-baiting the whole game, and we run into it every night, it's tough. These guys are already great players, so it's just tough. It's tough to stop them at that point, but we did everything we could," he said.
Free Throw Game
The Clippers got to the line more than the Lakers in the game, taking 29 free throws compared to 25 for the Lakers. The Lakers were also called for more fouls, 24-20.
Bennedict Mathurin shot 14 free throw attempts, while Kawhi Leonard shot five for the Clippers.
For the Lakers, Luka Doncic shot 11 free throws, and Austin Reaves shot seven.
Lue's comments about "foul baiting" were likely pointed at Reaves and Doncic, who had Kris Dunn and Mathurin in foul trouble all game with their ability to draw contact.
Mathurin ended up fouling out late on a called charge after he ran into Reaves. Dunn finished the game with five fouls.
The Lakers lead the league in free throw attempts per game, getting to the line an average of 26.9 times per game.
Individually, Doncic leads the league in free throw attempts per game at 10.9 attempts. Due to games missed, Reaves doesn't qualify among the leaders, but he's averaging 8.3 free throws per game, which would put him fourth in the league, just ahead of James Harden.
Clippers At The Line
While the Lakers lead the league in free throw attempts, the Clippers are in the top half of the league, attempting 24.7 free throws per game.
A portion of that was due to Harden, who averages 8.2 attempts at the line, but Mathurin has proven he knows how to get to the line during his brief run with Los Angeles.
In four games, Mathurin is averaging 9.5 free throw attempts. He averaged 4.9 attempts per game in his four years at Indiana. He showed in the playoffs last season that he might be a problem for opposing defenses and their ability to stay out of foul trouble when he attempted seven or more free throws in four out of the seven games in the NBA Finals.