The Los Angeles Lakers weren't happy with the officiating in their Game 2 loss that put them at a 2-0 series deficit.
The Los Angeles Lakers weren’t quiet about the reason they believe they lost Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals. Following a 125-107 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder to go down 2-0 in the series, the Lakers directed their frustrations towards the officials playing a role. Specifically, star Austin Reaves and head coach JJ Redick went rather public with their grievances following the contest.
Redick directed his ire at OKC fouling on every possession without calls drawn and pointed out how difficult it is for LeBron James to receive any calls with his stature, noting that he’s had a mere five free throw attempts in the series despite an average of 5.3 per game in the regular season. It got to a point where Redick tore into referee Ben Taylor with 1:26 left in the first quarter, to which he received a technical foul.
Then there was Reaves, who met crew chief John Goble at center court twice, one instance being when the refs changed a loose ball foul on Thunder’s Jaylin Williams to a double foul that instead resulted in a jump ball. And OKC won the jump. All in all, the Lakers were called for 26 fouls to OKC’s 21.
To read more about the officials playing a role for LA, here’s the full story from Lakers Roundtable writer Jack Haslett.
James was absorbing a lot of contact without calls and was called for a foul himself against Alex Caruso who sold in his wipeout to the floor. He had a basket wiped out due to a fall from OKC’s Carson Wallace. It was already an uphill battle for a team down star Luka Doncic, and for them, officiating made it too tall a hill to climb.
Despite Reaves scoring a playoff-high 31 points, the overall effort was overshadowed in the 18-point loss as LA remains distraught that the calls aren’t going their way.