Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Lessons from loss to Washington Wizards
By Ronald Agers
Bottom line…The Lakers need to leave the refs alone
The Lakers and referees have had an interesting narrative all season long. If you have paid attention, all of the Lakers have a penchant for complaining about calls. It used to be so bad that the defense would suffer because of it. Now there is problem that is going to bite them possibly down the road.
It started in the second game of the season…
In this game, the game got a little testy when James Ennis III clothes-lined Josh Hart and it was called a common foul. About a minute later, this happened…
Replay Review (Game Crew): player altercation in Q4 of #HOUatLAL. Ruling: Fighting technical foul ejections assessed to Rondo and Paul, two technical fouls and ejection assessed to Ingram. pic.twitter.com/EKSguqcDnk
— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) October 21, 2018
Then this past week, the same Houston Rockets team beat the Lakers with James Harden going to the line 19 times (hitting 18) on his way to 50 points. The story of the NBA the next day was all about the officiating…
It got so bad, that there was a quote on social media that Chris Webber called the game wrong by disagreeing about a foul called on Kyle Kuzma.
Why is it hard to educate fans about the rules? Here's what we're up against. From last night's game, @RealChrisWebber was incorrect here. This is a foul, as the defender makes illegal contact with his knee to the thigh of the offensive player, causing him to fall to the floor. pic.twitter.com/p0xweU8UD8
— NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) December 14, 2018
Then it got out that the Lakers was doing a “protest” when LeBron James was guarding Chris Paul with his hands behind his back.
What’s the point?
The referees might be a little say sensitive to the extra media attention brought to them because of the Lakers. Think not? Well let’s see here…
Lance Stephenson gets a technical foul for the air guitar against the Hornets…
Lance pulled out the air guitar in Miles Bridges face and got a technical 💀 pic.twitter.com/3Yg3cQwcP4
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 16, 2018
This was ridiculous. I know for a fact that Lance Stephenson has done this since the PRESEASON! To be honest, I was waiting on him to hit another 3 pointer just to see if the refs would call a tech.
Plus we need to see this one more time to make this point!
John Wall got Lonzo back 😳 pic.twitter.com/ILiac0uRCo
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 17, 2018
Lakers fans! This is a foul! Plus it is a possible flagrant one! Now let me tell you everyone a secret…
Referees hold grudges. Sorry.
Joey Crawford? He threw out Tim Duncan! For laughing! Look it up. Let Charles Barkley tell it, he has a list of refs he can’t stand. The list goes on and on.
The Lakers need to play through some of these calls. If not, the “Rasheed Wallace” syndrome will catch them soon enough and the refs won’t listen. Or even worse, the refs start giving out technical fouls like Christmas candy.
Now how can the players adjust…
If Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart or anyone else gets fouled hard…CONFRONT THEM THEN! Not the refs, the players! Somebody should have gotten in Wall’s face. Or the next time he comes through the lane, put him on the floor. Not to hurt him, but to send a message. If you think I’m wrong, look at the video again and see if he wasn’t sending one.
As for Luke Walton…
Does he have a pulse? No technicals? An experienced coach would have gotten themselves thrown out just to protect their players and get their point across. Maybe the players wouldn’t complain so much if they had a coach that was fiery enough that they didn’t have to worry about it. This may not be a problem now. But wait until around playoff time!
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