The NBA approved the officials’ statements Tuesday evening during the final two minutes of the Lakers’ 101-99 playoff loss to the Nuggets.
LeBron James and the Lakers, who led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, complained shortly after losing on a buzzer-beating shot by Denver’s Jamal Murray and falling behind 2-0 in the playoff series the Western Conference.
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The two-minute report assessed the league issues when assessing decisions made late in the match. The only error the NBA flagged was that Nikola Jokic should have been called for a three-second defensive violation with 1:53 left in the game and the Lakers in the lead. 93-92. Jokic and the Nuggets clogged the passing lanes around Anthony Davis throughout the game. Austin Reaves missed a three-pointer late in the shot clock and Denver got the rebound.
James was perplexed when the officials called him for a foul on a Murray drive with 57.1 seconds left. The Nuggets guard hit both free throws to tie the score at 97-97.
Afterwards, some fans wondered why Lakers coach Darvin Ham didn’t use one of his challenges to dispute the call and ask for a review. It is unlikely that he would have won the challenge.
The two-minute report stated that James extended his forearm and made contact with Murray’s front, which affected his drive to the basket. “The illegal contact occurs prior to Murray’s meeting and a non-shooting foul is properly assessed,” the report said.
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The NBA only publishes reports evaluating calls in the final two minutes of games and does not address other calls that the Lakers protested.
Michael Porter Jr. Denver was called for a shooting foul on D’Angelo Russell late in the third quarter, but the call was overturned after a challenge from Nuggets coach Michael Malone. Crew Chief Scott Foster announced over the public address system that Porter’s contact was “marginal.”
The Lakers disagreed.
“That’s a foul,” Russell tweeted after the game, “we all saw it on national TV.”
James vented his frustration with the replay center that reviews disputed calls.
“I honestly don’t understand what’s happening in the repetition center. … D-Lo clearly gets hit in the face on a drive. What on earth do we have for a repeat center if it continues [like that]. It doesn’t make sense to me,” James said after the loss. “It makes no sense to me. It bothers me. …And then I also just saw what happened with the Sixers-Knicks game. What are we doing? … It is stupid.”
Ham told reporters after the game: “It’s tough, some tough decisions, some tough non-calls. …It’s going to be really difficult. Go through the season with games being played one way and then getting to the play-offs and then that’s it, I think it’s left up to the interpretation of the three individual guys doing the job there.
“But that being said, you just have to know that it stings.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
