“Not a Good One!”: Frank Vogel Matches Devin Booker’s Story About Lakers Timeout, Calls Out Referees Over Huge Call In In-Season Tournament Quarterfinal

With under 10 seconds to go in the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals between the LA Lakers and the Phoenix Suns, NBA officials made an admittedly atrocious call. The score was 105-103 in the Lakers’ favor. However, the combination of Devin Booker and Kevin Durant appeared to have pressured Lakers’s Austin Reaves into spurning the ball.

With the ball right under the Lakers’ rim, all the Suns had to do was lay the ball up to tie the game. But, the referees stopped the game right there, insisting that LeBron James had called a timeout before Reaves lost the ball.

This decision by the officials caused quite an uproar within the NBA community, especially after further analysis of the footage proved that it was a loose ball well before James even looked in the referees’ direction. Joining in, Devin Booker decided to comment on the situation on his Instagram story, by making his wordless dissatisfaction easy to see. Take a look at the following X (Formerly Twitter) post by Gerald Bourguet below.

Devin Booker’s IG story, presented without comment: pic.twitter.com/2o9VIPgTKg

— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) December 6, 2023

Not long after Booker’s IG post, Phoenix Suns head coach, Frank Vogel sat down for his post-game press conference. Echoing his superstar’s thoughts publicly, here is what he said on the kind of explanation he got from the officials, as seen in the X post by Duane Rankin.

“Not a good one. I mean, it’s a loose ball, and the ball is out. And, they call timeout. On a loose ball, they can’t call timeout on a loose ball! Can’t do it!”

Vogel further vented his frustration, especially at the fact that the officials refused to get together and look at the footage.

“Everything in the league is reviewable. I don’t know why that can’t be reviewable. I know it’s not a foul or an out-of-bounds, which is like a challenge. But, at any point in the game, the whistle blows inadvertently, refs can huddle up and say, ‘Inadvertant whistle, where were we at during the game?'”

“Not a good one.”

Upset Frank Vogel when asked what explanation he got on #Lakers granted timeout when it appeared they turned the ball over before.

Vogel is asking for inadvertent whistle. that would signal a review, but was told by the refs play couldn’t be reviewed. #Suns pic.twitter.com/4GY9y7BExJ

— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) December 6, 2023

Of course, there is no guarantee that the Phoenix Suns would have won this game even if they did get the call their way. However, they would have had a massive chance to tie the game, a fact that likely only becomes more painful considering Durant came up short on a game-tying three attempt, in the dying embers of the contest.

Mikal Bridges wasn’t on the officials’ side either

Having been traded by the Phoenix Suns just last season, many would have thought Mikal Bridges would take some sadistic joy in the Suns being wronged. However, it appears that even the now-Nets star was left in shock by the referees’ decision, as seen in his X post after the fact.

Wow lol

— Mikal Bridges (@mikal_bridges) December 6, 2023

As mentioned previously, fans weren’t very impressed by the referees’ decision either.

Someone needs to say it at the presser and get fined

— Victor Jackson (@victordjackson) December 6, 2023

@NBA is Scripted. They already have their outcomes, refs just have to tilt it into that favor

— Th3 M3ch4nik (@AzMC_tomanahawk) December 6, 2023

Pretty hard for booker to play good when hes getting fouled every play and the refs just look the other way unless its him doing it smh watch the game

— Nora Outcast (@_donwany) December 6, 2023

 

Unfortunately, nothing can be done about the result of the contest now. Phoenix have no choice but to let things slide, as LeBron James and the Lakers move on to the Semi-Finals of the tournament. That said, the team will likely be thirsty for revenge during any upcoming matchups between these two teams this season.