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Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves nearly ended up turning from hero to zero if not for LeBron James‘ intervention as they escaped with a 106-103 win in the heated NBA In-Season Tournament semifinal on Tuesday.
Reaves hit the key 3-pointer that gave the Lakers a four-point cushion, 105-101, with 15 seconds to go. But he almost turned the ball over after Kevin Durant cut it to 105-103. Durant and Devin Booker trapped Reaves, who appeared to have lost grip of the ball when James called the timeout.
Reaves thought he was fouled. But he was relieved when the refs granted James’ request for the controversial timeout.
“There was no call, and LeBron made a high-IQ play he’s made a million times,” Reaves said.
The timeout prevented a Reaves turnover which could have led to an easy Suns basket to further close the gap.
“I was able to hit AR. And I felt [Devin Booker] kind of pushed up on a little bit, kind of made AR stumble,” James said. “As soon as I seen AR start to stumble a little bit, I started to make the notion and the voice to the referee that was closest to me for a timeout.”
“After that … I heard the commotion. The ball was loose, whatever the case may be,” James said. “But my direction was right towards the referee to get us a timeout for sure.”
Anthony Davis hit a split off the timeout then Durant missed a game-tying 3-pointer that preserved Reaves’ earlier heroics.
The Lakers advanced to the semifinals against the New Orleans Pelicans with the winner facing either the Milwaukee Bucks or Indiana Pacers for the first NBA In-Season Tournament title.
Devin Booker Cries Foul
Booker was livid when the Lakers got a timeout which helped them escape with a 106-103 win in the heated NBA In-Season Tournament semifinal on Tuesday.
“We’re not asking for favoritism, just a fair chance,” Booker said postgame.
Booker and Kevin Durant trapped Lakers guard Austin Reaves off an inbound play. The ball appeared to have slipped off Reaves’ hands when LeBron James called for a timeout which the officials granted with seven seconds remaining and the Lakers ahead by only two, 105-103.
“You know what happened,” Booker told reporters. “The whole world [has] seen it. I just got off social media and other players around the league [have] seen it, so it is what it is. Refs miss calls sometimes, but when they’re a bit that obvious, it’s tough.”
Refs Stand by Their Decision
NBA crew chief Josh Tiven defended their controversial call to grant the Lakers the controversial timeout.
“During live play, the official felt that LA still had possession of the ball when LeBron James requested the timeout,” Tiven said in the official pool report. “Through postgame video review in slow motion replay, we did see that Austin Reaves had his left hand on the ball while it’s pinned against his left leg, which does constitute control.”
Tiven’s explanation did not sit well with Suns coach Frank Vogel, who previously coached the Lakers to an NBA championship in the Orlando Bubble in 2020.
“Everything in the league is reviewable. I don’t know why that can’t be reviewed,” Vogel told reporters postgame. “I know it’s not a foul or an out of bounds, which is, like, a challenge. But at any point in the game, if the whistle blows, inadvertently, the refs can huddle up and say, ‘Inadvertent whistle, where are we at during the game?’ That did not happen. So, extremely disappointing.”
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