A great overall game flow was not what fans saw when the Lakers faced the Blazers on Saturday night.
During the first quarter, the whistle was brisk and erratic. Portland got a whopping 22 free throws, the most by any team in any quarter this year. To further explain this, the Blazers are averaging 27 free throws per game. The Lakers only hit three free throws in the first quarter, but ended the night with 21. The Blazers made more free throws in the first quarter than the Lakers made in the entire game.
However, just because the way a game was called did not affect the outcome does not mean that the decision was correct or that the same ruling was made consistently.
The host’s conversation was part of the postgame conversation, and Lakers head coach JJ Redick made it clear that the referees acknowledged their inconsistency.
“Fouls are going to happen,” Reddick said. “You can just sit there and look at everything.” [foul]. I do it sometimes. Watch a movie or watch a play and say, “Wait a minute.” Rewind, zoom in, and slow down. ”Officials don’t have that luxury. It’s a matter of how the game is called. They got off to a bad start tonight and they admitted it to me.
“And they showed up all over the map, making calls and not actually making calls. It happens over and over again and we have to find out, ‘What’s going on? What’s the actual call here?'” We didn’t get a very good call from Pat. [Frasher] I’ll put it in feedback all night. We talked about it. It’s not to single them out and that’s not why we lost. Whatever the reason, you’d probably have to ask the other 29 coaches, but for most of these teams, it feels like there’s inconsistency on a night-to-night basis within a game. ”
This is not the first time Reddick has complained about authorities.
At least for the Blazers game, officials acknowledged that Redick got off to a poor start, even if he was unhappy with the communication he received from crew chief Pat Frazier.
Another strange call late in the game was a flagrant foul on LeBron James.
He stood up to block a shot by Donovan Clingan, but the play was called an egregious foul. Looking at the replay, it seems like an odd call. If LeBron’s actions were the standard standard for bad calls, then no player could contest an aerial shot without it being considered bad behavior.
It’s difficult for Redick and the Lakers to adjust to referees changing what is and isn’t a foul from game to game and even play to play.
Given that this is a theme for Redick and the Lakers, they will need to continue to address it and try to get a better understanding of what is allowed throughout the year.