It’s fair to say Damian Lillard wasn’t happy with referees on Saturday night after the Los Angeles Lakers beat his Portland Trail Blazers, 116-108. Despite LeBron James having a great night (38, 12 and 8), there was a major factor that drew a lot of attention to the officials. At the end of the game, the Lakers had 43 free throw attempts while Portland had 19.
Obviously, this was very suspicious and people noticed the disparity between the two teams. After the clash, Portland star point guard Damian Lillard had some things to say about the Lakers, the officials and the free throws.
“The discrepancy in free throws is something that’s out of our control,” Lillard said, via ESPN. “Last game, we came out [and] they played a really physical game, they played a really aggressive game. That led to a blowout victory for them.
“Tonight, we came in saying we weren’t going to get bullied and let them out-physical and out-aggressiveness us, and maybe sometimes we did foul, but they’re a physical team as well. When a team is living at the free throw line like they did tonight as a team, it’s going to be hard to win a game against a team that’s as good as they are.”
Terry Stotts also commented on this issue, stating that the difference was important for both teams and created a big difference.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a game where (the free throw differential) was that big. It certainly had an impact on the first half when I think the differential was 23,” he said.
This didn’t sit well with anybody and one would imagine this will change in the 4th game of the series. The Lakers are now 2-1 and one more victory will give them an advantage extremely hard to lose.
