The Los Angeles Lakers felt aggrieved by the officiating in their 116-113 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 4 of their first-round series on Sunday. The Lakers felt two critical calls wrongly went against them in the closing stages, and the NBA has now admitted that the officials should have called a foul on Jaden McDaniels for tripping Luka Doncic.
The NBA’s Last Two Minute Report stated that Doncic fell because of illegal foot contact. The Slovenian was bringing the ball up the floor with the Lakers down 114-113 with less than a minute remaining when he appeared to get tripped by McDaniels before he crossed halfcourt.
The officials did not call a foul, though, and Doncic was forced to take a timeout. That mistake would end up causing the Lakers a lot of problems.
By the time Doncic called for a timeout, seven seconds had gone by on the shot clock, which meant the Lakers only had another second to get the ball past halfcourt. That limited their options on the inbounds pass, and LeBron James would end up turning the ball over.
When asked about that play postgame, Lakers head coach JJ Redick fumed at the officials for not calling that foul. Redick called it a blatant trip that should have given his team two free throws, and the league has now admitted he was right.
Where the NBA did disagree with the Lakers, though, was on the second decision they felt went against them. With around 10 seconds remaining, James appeared to have made a tremendous defensive play by knocking the ball out of Anthony Edwards‘ hands. The ball then seemed to hit Edwards and go out of bounds.
The Lakers were set to get the ball with a chance to win the game down 114-113, but the Timberwolves then challenged the call. They’d win the challenge, as replays showed James had hit Edwards’ hand. The Timberwolves star hit the ensuing free throws, and Austin Reaves then missed a three on the final play that would have sent the game to overtime.
After the game, James expressed his frustrations with the officials over that call. LeBron stated that the hand is part of the ball.
“That play happens all the time,” said James, in response to questions about the call. “Hand is a part of the ball. That’s what they say. I felt like the hand was a part of that ball. His hand was on top of that ball, and the ball stripped out on him. Seen that play over and over before, but it is what it is.”
The L2M report, however, stated that James made illegal contact with Edwards’ wrist and that he should have been called for a foul. The league felt that the officials only made one mistake in the final two minutes, which was not calling a foul on McDaniels.
While you can understand the Lakers being aggrieved by Doncic not getting a foul there, they really should be kicking themselves for the mistakes they made in that fourth quarter.
The Lakers led 94-84 after the third quarter but failed to hold on to that advantage. They scored just 19 points in the final period as their offense fell apart. That allowed the Timberwolves to come back into the game and eventually come away with the win.
The Lakers are now down 3-1 and have their backs against the wall. The Timberwolves will be looking to finish them off when the teams face off in Game 5 at Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday at 10 PM ET.
