With LeBron James set to miss a week or two due to a groin strain, Luka Doncic and the Lakers picked up their second consecutive loss. Doncic played 41 minutes in the road game against Brooklyn last night but his 22-12-12 triple-double wouldn’t be enough to overcome the Nets.
Doncic stepped up from deep, knocking down a crucial 35-footer in the final 12 seconds. However, his efforts couldn’t stave off the 108-111 loss. After the game, Luka appeared frustrated with the officiating. The 26-year-old received the first foul call in his favor halfway through the third quarter.
“It wasn’t fair but we just gotta play the game,” the Slovenian superstar said during his post-game presser. Luka is often quick to complain about the refereeing, particularly on the hardwood, but in this case, he preferred not to make any explicit comments about the officials.
“I’m not going to say anything but I think everybody saw the game so, they know what happened,” he added. As a team, the Lakers shot 15-of-19 from the stripe while the Nets knocked down 19 of their 13 free-throw attempts. According to Doncic, the disparity in foul calls was obvious by the end of the contest.
Some fans understood Doncic’s executive decision. The NBA has been quick to fine players who publicly call out the officiating and Luka wanted to avoid any such drama, Lakers fans argued. One of them responded, “Bro doesn’t wanna get fined LMAO”
However, some viewers argued that Doncic wasn’t tight-lipped enough. Just a few days ago, the NBA levied a $25,000 fine on DeMar DeRozan for publicly criticizing the officiating in the Kings vs. Nuggets matchup. “The refs were terrible. Terrible as s**t,” the veteran swingman said after the game.
While Luka certainly wasn’t so explicit in his criticism, his fans would prefer if the Slovenian guard kept a lid on his comments altogether. After all, criticizing the referees has become one of the most fined offenses in the NBA, and it wouldn’t take much for the league to argue that Doncic’s ‘unfair’ complaint was a criticism. “
He knows better than talking about it. He shouldn’t have said not fair at all. They’re gonna make it into something it’s not,” one fan
wrote online.
Not everybody was on Doncic’s side though. The five-time All-Star has built an unfortunate reputation for complaining during his seven seasons in the NBA. In 2023, the league fined him $35,000 for making an inappropriate gesture at the refs to insinuate that they were bought.
While few fans disagree with the impact of poor officiating, Doncic’s attitude has also rubbed some the wrong way. “H
e needs to tell that to himself while he is complaining to the ref the opp has the ball in a 4v5 advantage running down the lane,” another user
wrote about Luka.
The contest against Brooklyn certainly saw its fair share of missed calls from the officials though. However, the Lakers are not the Mavericks, and Doncic’s complaints don’t hold up the same with his new team. After all, few teams get the preferential calls that the Purple and Gold do.
The disparity was particularly evident during their 2022-23 campaign when LA shot 2,182 free-throws while only allowing their opponents 1,706 free-throws. Through January, Redick’s team had allowed only 946 foul shots while earning 1,180 free-throws themselves. They average 23.2 free-throw attempts per game — fourth highest mark this season — while attempting the fourth fewest drives to the rim.
Luka and the Lakers are facing a tough stretch over the remainder of the month and it will be even more challenging without the talents of LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes. They have a chance to end their two game losing skid against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday which will certainly be a tall ask for a team without 3 of its 5 starters.
