LeBron James and Frank Vogel were not happy about how a controversial challenge went down in the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers 105-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena.
On a rebound scrum with about one minute remaining and the Lakers trailing by one, the officials — Zach Zarba, Brian Forte, and Nick Buchert — initially awarded the basketball to the Lakers after Robert Covington tipped the ball out of bounds while on the baseline. However, LeBron's right foot seemed to come down out of bounds before he attempted to throw it back in play — where it ricocheted off of Covington.
LeBron in or out of bounds? pic.twitter.com/eGk1xauvLx
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) February 26, 2022
Clippers head coach Ty Lue challenged the ruling. In the moment, it was unclear whether he could legally challenge LeBron's positioning, which went uncalled. The actual call on the floor was in regards to Covington's position — which came about half of a second after the no-call on James' foot. (Anecdotally, we in the press box did not think the Clippers would win the challenge, as we did not believe a no-call that happened seconds before the actual call on the floor was reviewable.)
"I had no idea. I didn't know if they were reviewing Covington's out of bounds or LeBron being out of bounds, which he was clearly before that."
Terance Mann on the final 24 seconds, which took about 20 minutes. pic.twitter.com/Po2OtCMnum
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) February 26, 2022
And yet! After a nearly nine-minute(!) review, the refs ruled Clippers possession. According to Frank Vogel, this was because the Clippers challenged who should earn possession after the whistle, and — I guess — because a minuscule amount of time/action had taken place since LeBron touched the ball.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5haUg4gyrNR2NttN7AHSif?si=7e39aadd26934364
Predictably, the Lakers expressed their vehement displeasure with the decision.
“I disagree strongly with the ruling,” Vogel said. “I think it's total BS. They called the play dead when Covington steps out of bounds. They try to tell me that, because it was close to that play, that LeBron was out of bounds, then it's going to be Clippers ball. … It's wrong. … It should have been our ball in that situation. Very disappointing.”
After all the hullabaloo, the Clippers' ensuing possession resulted in a lengthy replay review, too. Talen Horton-Tucker was called for a touch foul on Amir Coffey in the backcourt with 17 seconds remaining on the shot clock. After that ruling was overturned — the refs rescinded the foul on THT — the Clippers promptly committed an eight-second violation. Somehow, neither the Clips nor the officials were ready for this possibility, as the entire Lakers organization yelped out in dismay before the refs halted play and went back to the monitor. Lakers basketball.
(This is not the first time the Lakers have been on the wrong end of a strange officiating snafu this season — and I don't mean Carmelo Anthony leading the NBA in technical fouls. On Nov. 2, Kent Bazemore had two free throws retroactively taken off the board minutes after he put the ball through the rim twice, and the Lakers lost a potentially game-altering possession. They escaped with a win in that case.)
“That definitely impacted the moment,” LeBron said. “That rule has never been explained to me, and I know every rule in this game… I never knew that you could challenge a play that wasn't called on the floor, and that's essentially what happened.”
LeBron James on the lengthy challenge call pic.twitter.com/kAk485Yvbh
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) February 26, 2022
Here's LeBron explaining his take to Richard Jefferson on the ESPN broadcast:
LeBron talking to Richard Jefferson after an overturned out of bounds call 😅 pic.twitter.com/6b2qVqidwI
— ESPN (@espn) February 26, 2022
Despite his confusion, LeBron acknowledged the Lakers had plenty of opportunities to eke out a victory. They came out flat in the first half (a theme this season), then roared back in the second half (another theme) to erase a 16-point deficit and take the lead in the final frame.
When the dust settled, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron missed threes in the final seconds. The Lakers (27-32) dropped 2.5 games behind the Clippers (31-31) for the No. 8 seed in the West.
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