On Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena, the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the division rival Golden State Warriors in an important game, one that would help dictate seeding in the Western Conference playoffs.
Unfortunately, given how the regular season has gone for the Lakers and Warriors so far, both teams will likely have to go through the Play-In Tournament to qualify for the NBA Playoffs, which which has become an all too common phenomenon.
As the game wound down in the fourth quarter, even though the Lakers lost Anthony Davis to an eye injury 12 minutes into the game, Los Angeles had a chance to get the better of Stephen Curry and company. However, things beyond the Lakers’ control began to happen on the court, namely the shot clock going haywire, which completely changed the momentum of the game which was tilted in favor of the Lakers.
Ultimately, the Lakers lost to the Warriors, 128-121. Austin Reaves tried to make sense of what happened after the game with plenty of criticism and a shot clock that refused to run to end the contest.
“I mean, it’s tough, but at the end of the day, refs have to get it right,” Reaves said. “I know it’s not them, but they can’t let this continue with a messed up shot clock or anything, so I think they did a good job. It’s just an unfortunate situation. Just standing there, and that’s really it.
Perhaps the most controversial call of the game came when the referees reviewed a 3-point shot that LeBron James had made on Curry to bring the team within four. This game was a big change in momentum for the Lakers, but the refs examined the shot and determined that James went out of bounds.
“The game goes from a four-point game to a seven-point game, it’s kind of like you’re going back in time, but you’re losing time,” Reaves said. “So yeah, I mean, I didn’t understand the decision on that or anything, but yeah, I mean, every time something like that happens, it sucks. You want to score points.
Once the three points were taken away, the Lakers seemed to have no chance as the momentum was gone. As if that wasn’t enough, the shot clock went haywire down the stretch, leading to multiple attempts to get the game back on track, to no avail.
In the end, a bizarre game ended with the Lakers now appearing to have sealed their fate as the 10th seed in the West with another Play-In Tournament appearance on the horizon.
Darvin Ham discusses ‘tough’ finish for Lakers vs. Warriors
In what turned out to be a very strange ending to the game between the Warriors and Lakers, the game’s momentum was halted after a ton of criticism from the referees and a broken shot clock.
Head Coach Darvin Ham thought about the game’s strange ending against the Warriors, admitting it was difficult to recover after rhythm and momentum were disrupted by all the stoppages in play Saturday night.
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