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Dave McMenamin
Multiple Authors
OKLAHOMA CITY — After Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves confronted crew chief John Goble at center court following L.A.’s 125-107 Game 2 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals Thursday, coach JJ Redick tore into the officiating during his postgame remarks.
“I sarcastically said the other day, they’re the most disruptive team without fouling,” Redick said. “I mean, they have a few guys that foul on every possession. … They’re hard enough to play. They’re hard enough to play, you’ve got to be able to just call them if they foul, and they do foul.”
Redick, who was called for a technical foul with 1:26 remaining in the first quarter for screaming at referee Ben Taylor about what he perceived as missed calls, said the officiating has been particularly poor for LeBron James this series.
James, who averaged 5.3 free throw attempts during the regular season, has only five free throws total through the first two games.
“LeBron has the worst whistle of any star player I’ve ever seen,” Redick said. “I mean, I’ve been with him two years now. The smaller guys, because they can be theatric, they typically draw more fouls, and the bigger players that are built like LeBron, it’s hard for them. He gets clobbered. He got clobbered again tonight a bunch.
“And that’s not like a new thing. That’s not specific to this crew or this series. He gets fouled a lot and it doesn’t [get called]. The guy gets hit on the head more than any player I’ve seen on drives, and it rarely gets called.”
James, who scored 23 points on 9-for-18 shooting with six assists, expressed his frustration to the referees at several points of Game 2.
He scored a layup with 4:52 remaining in the first quarter to pull L.A. within 16-11, when he absorbed contact to his body from Oklahoma City big man Jaylin Williams and landed on his right hip on the floor. No call was made.
He was jogging down the floor to start the Lakers’ offensive possession with 9:26 remaining in the second quarter when he met the Thunder’s Alex Caruso near the foul line, and Caruso sold the contact by sprawling to the floor. James was called for an offensive foul.
He made a continuation jump shot after Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace was called for a foul on him, with the Lakers trailing 107-94 with 5:39 to go, but instead of a chance at a three-point play, the foul on Wallace was called on the floor and the shot didn’t count.
“We’re down 2-0,” was all James said when asked about the overall officiating Thursday.
Asked why Redick could have the opinion that James receives the worst whistle out of any star in the league, he replied: “I don’t know.”
Reaves, who also confronted Goble with 5:53 to go in the fourth after L.A. called timeout trailing 107-94, was not as tight-lipped.
Before the timeout, the referees changed a loose-ball foul under the basket on the Thunder’s Williams for grabbing Lakers center Jaxson Hayes’ shorts as they battled for a rebound to a double foul on Williams and Hayes.
Instead of the Lakers getting the ball out of bounds under the basket, trailing 104-94 with 6:06 remaining, Hayes and Williams had a jump ball at center court.
While both teams were getting in position before the jump, Reaves said Goble lost his cool.
“I felt like I was respectful to all of them all night. I mean, there’s a million times in the past I’ve said way worse stuff,” Reaves said. “And when we were doing the whole jump ball when [the Thunder players] were switching spots, I wanted to get on the other side because they had a guy on the other side, was just trying to keep an advantage. And [Goble] turned around and just yelled in my face. I just thought it was disrespectful.
“At the end of the day, we’re grown men. And I just didn’t feel like he needed to yell in my face like that. I told him that. I wasn’t disrespectful. I told him if I did that to him first, I would have got a tech. I feel like the only reason I didn’t get a tech is because he knew he was in the wrong. So, yeah, I just felt disrespected.”
The Thunder won the jump, and Wallace hit a 3 to put his team up by 13. Their lead did not dip below 12 the rest of the night.
Redick had no issue with the outbursts from Reaves, who scored a playoff career-high 31 points, or James.
“Our guys were so good tonight just staying together, poised,” he said. “The emotion is part of basketball. And I think some of the reason [the Thunder are] officiated the way they are is because they don’t show emotion, and that’s a credit to them. I mean, they’ve really been taking the emotion out of the game. They’re super tightknit. They don’t complain to the officials and maybe they’re the beneficiaries of that, I don’t know.”
The Lakers were called for 26 fouls in Game 2; the Thunder were called for 21. Oklahoma City attempted 26 free throws as a team, while L.A. attempted 21.
Lakers forward Rui Hachimura, who kept up his strong postseason with 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting, agreed with his coach.
“We can’t control the referees,” Hachimura said. “So we really can’t do anything about it. So we just got to play through it. They’re the defending champions. [The refs] give them respect. Whatever. We can’t do anything about it.”
