LOS ANGELES – The end of the Los Angeles Lakers–LA Clippers showdown on Friday night was one for the ages, and not in a good way. LeBron James and Robert Covington were involved in the controversial play down the stretch that delayed the game about 20 minutes.

With 25 seconds to go in the fourth quarter and the Lakers down 103-102, James attempted to rebound a miss by Russell Westbrook, but his momentum carried him out of bounds. He appeared to save it in time, throwing it in the direction or Robert Covington, who caught and dribbled the ball down as if to gain control. Covington's dribble hit the baseline, triggering a whistle from the official.

Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue challenged the play, which was believed initially to be the Covington dribble out of bounds. Assistant coaches Shaun Fein and Jeremy Castleberry advised Lue to challenge the play, claiming that it was technically all in one motion.

Following a nearly 20 minute review, the ultimately awarded to the Clippers as the officiating crew, with the help of their Secaucus, New Jersey offices, determined that LeBron James stepped out of bounds prior to Covington, but in the same motion.

The controversial call was the talk of the night, with many questioning what was and wasn't legal in the review process.

Even LeBron James approached Richard Jefferson at the ESPN broadcasting table to question what he saw.

“That definitely impacted the moment,” LeBron James 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.”

Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was just as confused during his postgame press conference.

“I don’t know what the rule was,” Lue said. “We just knew he was out of bounds. We didn’t have anything to lose. So we just challenged it. But it could’ve came back to hurt us because we used our timeout to advance the ball and then we dribbled around the backcourt like it’s not an eight-second rule. But it was a big challenge and we won. Shaun Fein and Jeremy Castleberry were like, we can challenge it. LeBron was out. That was huge. And I thought the biggest part of the game was Brian Shaw telling me let’s go small, and go with RoCo at the five and we got Isaiah out and that kind of changed the game for us.”

Reggie Jackson couldn't believe the stoppage of play exceeded 10 minutes as both Clippers and Lakers players were sitting around waiting.

“I don’t know man, it was crazy. For some reason, 30 seconds felt like 15 minutes. That might’ve been how much time we spent out there, but it was just weird. Thinking about so many thoughts, trying to keep your mind focus on the game, start trying not to get caught up and get emotional about whatever the call’s gonna be. Both teams were kinda joking with each other, just what we were seeing, how we can challenge the things that we can challenge. It was just interesting. Especially for some of the older guys, I know I was joking with LeBron and Melo over there a lot. I know they’ve been in the league far before me and they’re not accustomed to it. Even since I’ve been here, it’s not something you’re accustomed to. Challenging a play and then having a so-so call and then challenging something before that to even something to deal with.

“So the refs, I commend them. It’s a tough job. Rules are tough, but it was very interesting, honestly, to be out there. I was joking with one of the coaches over there that I’m very familiar with about, we started looking at each other, doing the watch, the time. Talking about it was Game 4 the next game they’re playing against us so yeah, nah, that’s a little bizarre and I’m not gonna lie, I was fortunate enough to run away for a while after that, but yeah my legs felt a little weird trying to make sure I was gonna be good to get back and run. I was wondering how guys were feeling, started getting cold after a while, but it’s part of the game, so everybody dealt with the circumstances.”

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Stephen A. Smith, Lakers, Nuggets, LeBron James, LeBron Lakers

Jackson Stone ¡

Dejounte Murray with question marks around him

Shervon Fakhimi ¡

Lakers' LeBron James, Anthony Davis and D'Angelo Russell with Nuggets' Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic

Michael Corvo ¡

Terance Mann, who was huge late in the Clippers-Lakers game, explained how things went down in his eyes.

“Yeah, most definitely, I was on the bench like, ‘dang this is gonna take forever.' I thought it was going to be longer to be honest, then when we hit the ball out of bounds I was like, ‘oh my goodness,' and giving them a chance it was long.

I had no idea to be honest,” Mann responded on whether he knew what exactly was being reviewed late in the Clippers-Lakers game. “I didn’t know if they were reviewing Covington’s out of bounds or Bron being out of bounds which he was, clearly, before that.”

In any case, the Clippers will take their victory and run with it. They'll see the Lakers one more time on March 3rd, which will be the fourth and final matchup between the two Los Angeles basketball teams.