The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a devastating 143-142 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in overtime, remaining winless and now 0-3 to start the season. Head coach Luke Walton couldn't help but make one thing abundantly clear — the Lakers aren't getting the respect they deserve at the foul line.
“Let me start here. I wasn't going to say anything. I was going to save my money, but I just can't anymore,” Walton said post-game. “It's [74] points in the paint [by the Lakers] to 50, [and once] again they outshoot us from the free-throw line — 38 free throws [to 26 by the Lakers]. Watch the play where I got a technical foul. Watch what happened to LeBron James' arm. It's the same thing that James Harden and Chris Paul shot 30 free throws on us the night before. We are scoring 70 points a night. In the paint.”
After a OT-loss to the Spurs, Lakers head coach Luke Walton goes at the refs for their unfair calling of the game. He mentions Josh Hart and LeBron James as two players who were cheated of calls.
via @RyanWardLA pic.twitter.com/tvCjC0hsaH
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Luke Walton single out one of his bench cogs in Josh Hart, a physical 6-foot-5 guard with a tendency to attack other players off the dribble. Hart enjoyed a sound 20-point, 10-rebound double-double, but failed to go to the foul line a single time against the Spurs.
“They were putting pressure on Josh Hart. Watch how Josh Hart plays this game,” said Luke Walton. “He played 40 minutes tonight, all he does is attack the paint — zero free throws tonight. Zero.”
“So to me it doesn't matter, I know they're young, but if we're gonna play a certain way — let's not reward people for flopping 30 feet from the hole on plays that have nothing to do with that possession and then not reward players that are physically going to the basket and getting hit. It's not right.”
Hart was 1-of-5 on free throws combined from the last two games, but to Walton's point, no one in the Lakers roster shot more than four free throws besides LeBron James, who went 8-of-11 from the stripe.
Referees around the league are concentrating in the league's points of emphasis like off-the-ball fouls and the simplification of clear path fouls, but they're missing the obvious ones — and while that will earn Luke Walton a fine, he's hoping it's one worthy of the cause.
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