The Los Angeles Lakers missed a golden chance to level the series against the Denver Nuggets blowing up a 20-point lead in the second half, yet again. Nikola Jokic and Co. mounted a ferocious comeback to win it in the final minutes, thanks to Jamal Murray’s heroics. The Nuggets PG just shot 9 of 24 FGA throughout the night but garnished his dismal performance with a smooth game-winning fadeaway jumper, which stole the show. After the loss, LeBron James seemed off on what transpired a couple of plays before the final minute.
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It happened when James made a driving layup to lift the Lakers 99-97 with around 47 seconds to go. He claimed to be hit during the drive and should have gotten a free-throw opportunity. After the game, the Lakers superstar chased a referee to complain about what he thought was a missed and-one call. An X user uploaded the leaked audio of the whole ordeal, where LBJ can be seen repeatedly asking the referees about the call,
“Why didn’t you call the And-One? Why didn’t you call that sh**? It was right in front of you. I am asking you a question.”
As per King James, he was smacked in the head by Jamal Murray after he had beaten Kentavious Caldwell-Pope off the dribble. Alluding to the contact by Murray, he argued that he should have been awarded a free throw. It would have created a 100-97 advantage for the Lakeshow.
A one-point differential would have created more panic among the Nuggets and they’d have been forced to take a tougher shot than Murray’s twin mid-range jumpers. The perennial All-Star took his grievances in the post-conference too.
LeBron James continued his complaints
After the game, the Lakers’ all-around forward didn’t limit his criticism to the play involving him. He also brought up a foul on D’Angelo Russell where he felt the contact warranted a whistle. With less than a minute left in the third quarter, D’Angelo Russell drove to the rim and was hit in the face by Michael Porter Jr. prompting a shooting foul.
When the Nuggets reviewed the call, they successfully had it overturned as the referees deemed the contact “marginal”. The All-time NBA leading scorer believed the call should have not been overturned. He wondered about the replay center’s and said,
“I don’t understand what’s going on in the replay center, to be honest. I think I said it this year or last year or whatever. D’Lo clearly gets hit in the face on a drive. What f— do we have a replay center for? It makes no sense to me. It bothers me. I just saw what happened in the 76ers-Knicks game too, What are we doing?“
The Lakers surely felt that they got the short end of the stick from the officials. Such grievances are much more frequent in the postseason because the stakes are higher. While there can be debates about questionable calls, the Lakers have their work cut out with the Nuggets just two games away from dusting them off once again.
