Lakers Rip Officials After Loss to Clippers

The Los Angeles Lakers lost the game to their city rivals and let’s just say players were a bit frustrated. Lakers players and coaches blasted officials following the loss to the Clippers. Did they have a reason? Absolutely.

The last 30 seconds of Lakers/Clippers took 20 real time minutes to finish.

The NBA needs to change something. pic.twitter.com/zPqWJhwBKy

— StatMuse (@statmuse) February 26, 2022

LeBron in or out of bounds? pic.twitter.com/eGk1xauvLx

— The Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) February 26, 2022

Lakers head coach Frank Vogel discussed the final section of the game. He had something to say about officials and LeBron’s final play.

“I disagree strongly with the ruling,” Vogel told the media after the game. “I think it’s total BS. They called the play dead when Covington steps out of bounds. They try to tell me that, because it was close to that play, that LeBron was out of bounds, then it’s going to be Clippers ball. … It’s wrong. … It should have been our ball in that situation. Very disappointing.”

Lakers coaches, players criticize officials following loss to Clippers

LeBron feels the same. He even went to ESPN’s Richard Jefferson during the game and his gesture says it all.

LeBron talking to Richard Jefferson after an overturned out of bounds call ? pic.twitter.com/6b2qVqidwI

— ESPN (@espn) February 26, 2022

“That definitely impacted the moment,” LeBron said in the postgame press conference. “That rule has never been explained to me, and I know every rule in this game. I never knew that you could challenge a play that wasn’t called on the floor, and that’s essentially what happened.”

The Clippers celebrated a win and it didn’t sit well with the Lakers. LeBron’s team has a 27-32 record at this point of the regular season. They sit at No.9 in the conference. If you ask LeBron, he’d place the place the blame on an old issue. LeBron, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook were set to make a splash in the regular season. It didn’t happen though.

“I do wish that we were just playing better basketball and between me, AD and Russ on the floor at the same time,” the four-time NBA champion said. “That’s the biggest disappointment so far, that us three, because we all wanted to see this work. We just haven’t been on the floor.”

Lakers players lost games a lot of games and fans have questions. Will LeBron and his teammates save the season?