The Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics helped usher in the NBA's rivalry week. But the action-packed, overtime win from the Celtics is riddled with controversy after LeBron James was fouled on a last-second shot in regulation that could have ended the game.
As James drove to the hoop in a tie game at the end of the fourth quarter, Jayson Tatum hit him on the arm. The game went into overtime but James was furious at the officials for not giving him a foul. The Celtics went on to win overtime against their archrival despite a 41-point outing from LeBron. The Lakers fell to 23-27 on the season.
Dennis Schröder took to Instagram to blast the referees, who admitted after the game that James should have received foul shots. He called them out for not using the replay center to correct wrong calls and for giving out too many technical fouls.
"To lose 3-5 games this season off of referees' mistakes is really hard."
Dennis Schroder spoke his mind on IG after the Lakers' tough OT loss to the Celtics 😬 pic.twitter.com/XWGGzmgrAo
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) January 29, 2023
“The refs gotta start getting fined for their mistakes! They also giving Technical fouls to [people] who are reacting to their mistakes,” the Lakers guard wrote.
The Lakers were incensed at the referees missing such an important call. Patrick Beverley took things a giant step further by literally showing them the foul on a camera. He was, of course, called for a technical foul.
Officiating is always a hot-button topic in the NBA. After such a bad mistake in one of the biggest games of the season, it is sure to be even more scrutinized. The Lakers still could have won but the fact that they lost out on crucial free throws will not be brushed aside.
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