For the second straight excruciating loss, the Los Angeles Lakers took umbrage with the officiating on a potentially game-winning play.

On Thursday, LeBron James expressed displeasure with the refs' performance in the Lakers' double-overtime defeat to the Dallas Mavericks. (The NBA acknowledged LeBron was fouled on a last-second layup attempt, though stood by the non-call he was vocally peeved about on Troy Brown Jr.'s 3-pointer at the end of regulation). After Sunday's 113-112 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Crypto.com Arena, Russell Westbrook blamed a non-call on Joel Embiid for a failed final possession.

After a triple from Brown cut the Sixers' lead to one, Westbrook stood his ground on a switch onto Embiid, resulting in a clanked fadeaway. Russ secured the rebound, then, sensing a cross-match, hurriedly pushed the ball up-court and never really considered giving it up.

Darvin Ham elected not to call one of his two remaining timeouts, and the inert Lakers watched as Westbrook tried to take Embiid iso, even after losing the handle. No dice. Game over.

Westbrook (and LeBron) declined to conduct a formal press conference after the game, though both briefly took questions in the locker room. Westbrook showed reporters a screengrab of Embiid holding his arm.

“I was trying to attack them and get to the basket,” Russ explained. “It’s unfortunate, but he was grabbing my wrist. I couldn’t get the ball up. But it’s all good. … I know the game didn’t come down to the last shot.”

Embiid, not surprisingly, disagreed with Westbrook's assessment.

“I don’t think I fouled him. He was unlucky because he lost the ball. I would say he was unlucky.”

Westbrook was not vindicated by the league's Last 2 Minute Report, which stood by the non-call.

Either way, the approach to the final play was nonetheless confounding. To borrow his famous tagline, why not immediately look for LeBron, who was masterful all night (35/10/8)? Why not swing the ball after losing the dribble and momentum? And for the whole team, including Ham: Why not call a timeout?

“No, not really,” Ham said when asked if he thought about calling time. “Down one … one of our best finishers at the rim has the ball with Embiid standing in front of him. I'll take that scenario every day of the week and twice on Sunday. We just gotta finish the play. … If I call a timeout and I draw up something, maybe they make substitutions, maybe they scheme a little bit better.

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“I have confidence in my player. And that's not gonna change.”

Ham has a genuine belief in Westbrook, though he could also be throwing his arm around a sensitive player's shoulder. Russ — who loathes being benched in crunch time, which still happens occasionally — could have viewed a timeout as a sign that his team doesn't trust him to make a clutch play.

On a positive note, Westbrook was mostly brilliant for 33 of his 34 minutes against the 76ers. So goes the Russell Westbrook Experience, as it has for 15 years.

The Lakers have lost multiple games due to failed crunch-time execution. Westbrook — for all his production off the bench, including a record-breaking 20/14/11 triple-double vs. Philly — is often a culprit, typically due to his insistence on pushing the pace rather than setting up a deliberate possession. (Early on, the Lakers repeatedly lamented late-game decision-making in postgame remarks, usually implicating Russ without explicitly naming him.) One memorable example came during an avoidable loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, when Westbrook forced a 2-for-1 transition jumper, even though the Lakers had the lead.

“It’s just frustrating,” said LeBron, who became the second player to reach 38,000 career points on Sunday. “Getting in those positions and not being able to come out with the victory.”

“We’re playing good basketball. We’re just not winning games.”

Los Angeles is 9-11 in crunch-time games, per NBA.com, with a bottom-10 net rating. That's neither on Russ nor the refs, generally speaking.

“We just got to be better, got to be better finishing the game,” Ham said Sunday.

The Lakers (19-24) will have an immediate opportunity to snap their three-game losing streak on Monday vs. the Houston Rockets, losers of 10 straight.