The Los Angeles Lakers are quickly learning what several other teams have discovered in the last few postseasons: the Oklahoma City Thunder are allowed to get away with a level of physicality that their opponents are not.
The Lakers reached their breaking point on Thursday, as head coach JJ Redick, LeBron James and Austin Reaves confronted referees about the perceived lopsided officiating.
Rapper Lil Wayne echoed the sentiments of many basketball fans.
“OKC games are unwatchable. The refs are even dressed in their colors tn! Brazy.”
NBA World Reacts to Lakers vs Thunder
Several other fans and analysts ripped the officating in Game 2.
PrizePicks: “THE REFS HAVE WENT UP 2-0 ON THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS.”
Foot Locker: “These calls are crazy.”
Shannon Sharpe: “Yeah Lakers you’re 2 close. Fouls being called on every Thunder possession.”
Gavin McHugh: “The Thunder whistle needs to be studied for the rest of time.”
The Ringer’s Seerat Sohi: “the thunder are the dynasty the modern nba deserves (derogatory).”
Lakers Furious With Officials
While the Lakers were annoyed with the officiating for most of the game, there was one egregious call at the 5:42 mark of the fourth when LeBron James should have been sent to the line for an and-one when he made a basket over Cason Wallace. Instead, the referees waived off the field goal as they felt it did not meet the continuation criteria. JJ Redick was absolutely furious with the decision and let the refs hear it after the game.
“LeBron [James] has the worst whistle of any star player I’ve seen,” Redick said.
“I’ve been with him two years now. I mean, the smaller guys, they can be theatric and they typically drew more fouls. For bigger players that are built like LeBron, it’s hard for them. They get clobbered. [Lebron] got clobbered again tonight a bunch.
“That’s not a new thing. That’s not specific to this [officiating] crew. In this series, he gets fouled a lot. He gets hit in the head more than any player I’ve seen on drives, and rarely gets called.”
James all but refused to answer questions from the media after the game when asked to respond to Reddick’s comments.
Meanwhile, Reaves lost his temper at referee John Goble during a jump-ball sequence late in the fourth quarter when the Lakers guard felt “disrespected” by the official.
After cussing out the referee [NSFW warning], Reaves approached the entire officiating crew after the game to say his piece.
The NBA has an Oklahoma City Thunder problem on its hands. The Lakers are just the latest victim.
NBA World Reacts to Lakers vs. Thunder Series: ‘Unwatchable’