The Los Angeles Lakers have had enough of what they perceive as unbalanced officiating and following their loss to the Phoenix Suns on the road on Sunday, they took the opportunity to air their frustrations about the refs.
The Suns, who walked off the court with a 123-113 victory, shot 19 free throws in comparison to the Lakers who only shot 8 which was a season low for the Lakers and also tied the fewest such attempts in any game for the team since Lebron James joined the Lakers in 2018.
“I’m not one to use referees as an excuse,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “But it’s becoming increasingly tough because of the inconsistency. I’m seeing our guys get the same contact on them as we’re supposedly committing. And the whistle is not being blown.”
“That’s something we focus on, trying to win the free throw line every game,” Ham said. “And so that’s tough. I’m telling my guys to drive downhill; we’re trying to love and live in the paint. And you’re not getting calls. I see guys with their hands in our guys’ ribs or swinging, swiping at their heads, trying to block the shot but not getting the ball, but getting a piece of the body. And it’s not being called, as simple as that.
“So, we have to figure out ways to not let that be a problem, but it’s tough. Again, it’s frustrating when there’s so much inconsistency.”
The Lakers didn’t shoot a single free throw during the second half.
“A lot of people, a lot of coaches, a lot of teams are like, ‘That’s all the Lakers do is get to the free throw line,'” James said. “It’s like this narrative out there that that’s all we do is get to the free throw line. I mean, we have attackers. That’s what we do. We have attackers. Yeah, we shoot the ball from the perimeter, but we’re not shooting 40 to 50 3s a game. We’re not that team. We don’t have the luxury of being that team. So, working it into the paint, that’s what we’re really good at.
“To have eight free throw attempts is definitely not us. I know, definitely, I got hit a couple times when I got to the paint tonight that wasn’t called. But it is what it is.”
“We live on getting to the line. We attack the basket,” Lakers center Anthony Davis said. “Especially how much we struggle from the 3, we’re kind of up and down, so we try to live in the paint and get to the line. I’m not sure if it was just the refs missing it or they weren’t fouling. I felt I got fouled a couple of times. But that’s part of our identity, our DNA, is getting to the line and guys catching rhythms like that and then playing from there.”
“Whether we think we got fouled or not, we got to get back [on defense] because the team is going to push,” Davis said. “We don’t want to be at a disadvantage. It happened a couple of times tonight. I think I had one in front of their bench. But we got to have a next-play mentality and getting back knowing teams are going to push and, most times, they’re going to make us pay.”
