The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Lakers 125-107 at Paycom Center on Thursday to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals. While every fanbase tends to get upset after their team loses a playoff game, the Lakers fans are fuming.
To say they aren’t happy with the officiating crew of John Goble, Mark Lindsay, and Ben Taylor would be an understatement. They were going off on them on social media during and after the game.
“OKC games are unwatchable,” Lil Wayne wrote on X. “The refs are even dressed in their colors [tonight]! Brazy.”
“This is the worst officiated game I’ve ever seen in my life,” another fan wrote on X. “The best team in the NBA gets to play 8 on 5. Such a joke.”
“Hard to win a game 8v5,” another fan on Reddit echoed the sentiment.
One of the moments Lakers fans felt most aggrieved by was a blatant flop by Chet Holmgren in the first quarter. The officials initially called a foul on Deandre Ayton, but it was later overturned after a challenge. Holmgren wasn’t slapped with a technical foul, though.
I thought they’re supposed to call technical fouls for flopping?
Look at Chet Holmgren dawg pic.twitter.com/lpZtb7dEZx
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) May 8, 2026
Missing that it was a flop at first was bad enough, but not issuing a technical while reviewing the play when it’s that blatant is ridiculous. Then just minutes later, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drew a foul on Luke Kennard that had Lakers fans fuming.
SGA’s whistle is truly generational
NOBODY TOUCHED HIM pic.twitter.com/Xxp3aqI6Xn
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) May 8, 2026
This wasn’t a night where Gilgeous-Alexander made way too many trips to the line, though. He finished 7-9 from the charity stripe, but this sequence stood out for Lakers fans.
Then, later in the third quarter, Ayton was called for offensive basket interference when he dunked in a lob from Austin Reaves.
THE REFS ARE SCREWING THE LAKERS pic.twitter.com/h7i4LTM6Qt
— Lakers Empire (@LakersEmpire) May 8, 2026
Ayton was trying to tell the officials it was a pass, not a shot. That call wasn’t getting overturned, though.
As if all this wasn’t bad enough, we saw Reaves confront Goble in the fourth quarter for disrespecting him. He had some words for the official after the game, too, while his teammates surrounded them.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick went off on the officials in his postgame press conference as well. Redick claimed LeBron James has the worst whistle of any star player he has seen. James went 4-4 from the free-throw line, and he certainly could have shot a few more.
LeBron gets absolutely hammered. No whistle pic.twitter.com/cOqB7Z2SbY
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) May 8, 2026
While Redick wasn’t happy with the officiating, he made it clear in his presser that the referees weren’t the reason why the Lakers lost.
“We didn’t lose because of the refs,” Redick said, via Spectrum SportsNet. “That’s never the case. You don’t lose because of refs. You lose because the other team outplays you. Oklahoma City outplayed us.”
The Thunder did ultimately outplay the Lakers in the second half. The visitors were even presented with a golden opportunity to win this game when Gilgeous-Alexander was in foul trouble, but they weren’t able to take advantage.
The Lakers now find themselves in a must-win situation as this series shifts to Los Angeles. Game 3 will tip off at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
