During a D’Lo play, the most dubious officiating moment of the evening occurred. Following his drive to the rim on Michael Porter Jr., D’Lo was fouled after taking a blow to the face. Denver made a strange challenge to the play, but what was even more ridiculous was that the officials reversed it.
LeBron James and Darvin Ham led the Lakers, who lost Game 2 to the Nuggets after blowing a 20-point lead in the second half. Following the game, the officials came under fire.
Among the Lakers’ ever-expanding list of frustrating losses to the Nuggets, Monday’s game ranks highest. The Lakers dominated the first half and the third quarter, stretching their advantage to 20 points, only to see it all come apart, leading to a buzzer-beater by Jamal Murray.
Not only is it their ninth straight loss to Denver, but it also puts them down the Rockies 2-0 in the series. It was like a completely preventable gut punch in every sense.
But the refereeing, which undoubtedly took centre stage for parts of the game, left the Lakers feeling very strongly after the game.
The call was extremely harsh at the time, and the fact that the Lakers lost definitely came back to haunt them. LeBron James did not mince words while discussing the play following the game.
Not all of the Lakers’ significant calls during the game went their way. Murray gave LeBron a handshake in the first half of the game, and the officials initially ruled a foul but later overruled it.
But in the last minute of the game, there was a play that probably sent the Lakers over the top. On a play where it appeared as though Murray had struck him in the head, LeBron drove to the basket and made a layup.
Throughout the entire evening, the Lakers made only 13 free throws. This season, there were just four games where they shot lower. The only other occasion it has occurred since early March was in a decisive victory over the Raptors.
The Lakers are therefore justified in their anger. Not only were the calls the worst of the year, but they were also far less in number. They appear to have a solid argument here.
However, Lakers fans will undoubtedly find this to be a little disappointing. For the Lakers to blow a 20-point lead, a lot of things had to go wrong, and they did. And a great deal of those wounds were self-inflicted. The offensive stopped, and the defence
Thus, any discussion on the officials will enrage the supporters. Fair or unfair, it’s just not a good look to criticise the officials. To refute that once more, there will never be a “good” moment to talk about authorities. It makes sense why they did it because after the game, the emotions were undoubtedly running high.
The Lakers are simply in an awful predicament all around. They were a major factor in their downhill slide to a defeat on Monday, but officiating made the descent happen a little bit faster.
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