Frank Vogel didn’t miss the opportunity to vent after the Los Angeles Lakers lost Game 5 against the Miami Heat, 111-108. The Lakers had several opportunities to seal the deal but they missed them, unlike the Heat, who made every shot they had to take the W. Danny Green and Markieff Morris lost two big chances for the Lakers, but Frank Vogel believes things could have been different for the Lakers if the officials made better decisions regarding Jimmy Butler.
Butler went off with a 35-12-11 triple-double in 47 minutes of play. It was a great performance for Jimmy, but Vogel was convinced he got two bad calls that put the swingman in the free-throw line.
“I felt two bad calls at the end put Butler to the line, and that’s unfortunate in a game of this magnitude,” Vogel said. “Anthony Davis has perfect verticality, and it should be a play on. And the time before that, Markieff Morris has his hand on the ball. That should be a play on. They were given four free throws and made it an uphill battle for us.
“Very disappointed in that aspect of the game, but our group’s fine. We’re going to bounce back strong. We’ll have a better performance in Game 6.”
Vogel wasn’t pleased with those calls and he’ll probably get one more from the league office after making these remarks. Two calls didn’t make them lose the game, they had plenty of chances to take a bigger lead, to end the game in the last seconds but none of that happened. Now Vogel and his team need to see what they can improve if they want to finish the deal on Sunday night. Otherwise, the Heat will tie the series and will land in the seventh game with a huge inspiration.
