Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone could not help but take a shot at the game officials following their Game 2 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.

Malone pointed out in his postgame interview that the disparity in free throws between the two teams in the first half had a detrimental effect on the Nuggets for the rest of the game:

“We allowed that second quarter free throw discrepancy to really take root and let us lose our focus and we that can't happen,” Malone said, via USA TODAY Sports' Jeff Zillgitt. “We are going to have enough of a hard time trying to beat the five guys on the floor.”

That's a bit of a veiled shot from Malone, as he implied how the referees were being impartial with their foul calls. Then again, if you look at the final box score, the Nuggets actually shot 33 free throws throughout the contest, as opposed to the Lakers' 19 trips to the stripe. There's no denying that there's a discrepancy there as well.

Talking about free throws, Nuggets guard PJ Dozier missed a couple of them down the stretch. The 23-year-old went 1-of-5 from the line overall, and coach Malone revealed how Dozier felt gutted by all those missed chances:

“He feels awful about the missed free throws,” Malone said of Dozier, via Mike Singer of The Denver Post).

This is the second straight game where the Nuggets have had something to say about the game officials. Denver was also unhappy with the referees' performance in Game 1.