LOS ANGELES — The final 1:50 of the Golden State Warriors’ 128-121 win over the Los Angeles Lakers lasted 22 minutes in an ending deemed “bizarre” and “tough” by the respective coaches.
After a Stephen Curry missed 3-pointer at the 1:52 mark, the ball caromed out of bounds off of Andrew Wiggins and Jaxson Hayes. The ball was initially ruled out of bounds off of the Lakers. Los Angeles coach Darvin Ham challenged the call.
Upon review, the call was overturned and the Lakers’ challenge was deemed successful. However, during the stoppage, the NBA’s Replay Review also determined that LeBron James’ corner 3-pointer over Curry at the 2:07 mark was incorrect as James stepped out of bounds as he took the shot. The Lakers, who trailed 124-120 at the time, now trailed 124-117.
Steve Kerr details the “bizarre” ending. He said he doesn’t like the rule that allowed referees to go back and disallow the LeBron 3. pic.twitter.com/H5tktcZOXP
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 17, 2024
With the ball off both players, instead of just Hayes, there was a jump ball at the Warriors’ free-throw line. Hayes tipped the jump ball toward the baseline, where Draymond Green collected it and threw it off Austin Reaves with 1:48 left. The Lakers, who still had another challenge, once again challenged the call.
Upon another review, it was ruled that Green had stepped out of bounds and it would be the Lakers’ ball.
Over the next eight minutes, there were four attempts to resume play, with the shot clock not starting on any of the possessions. By the third and fourth attempts, the Crypto.com Arena crowd began booing the referees.
“It totally takes the air out of the building,” Ham said. “People were there — it’s a game that was going back and forth, they build a nice cushion for themselves, we dig back into it, and then we make a big shot, big play, they make a big shot, big play, guys are scrambling, competing their asses off and then boom — everything just stops. Now you’ve got fans getting a little antsy, thus the boos.”
Eventually, the referees decided that Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter would verbally announce the shot clock in five-second intervals starting at the 20-second mark over the arena’s speakers.
“I haven’t seen that,” Ham said. “I haven’t seen that before.”
The Lakers turned the ball over on their possession, essentially icing the game for the Warriors.
After the game, James voiced his displeasure over his 3-pointer being overturned.
“I’ve never seen that be called before like that — in that particular time,” James said. “That was kind of weird. It took some momentum away from us. … I didn’t believe I stepped on the line, obviously. I knew how much space I had over there. And when I shoot, I shoot on my tippy toes, so it’s kind of hard for me to have a heel down. Probably after I shot, I obviously landed. But it is what it is.”
“I’m too old for this s—.”
—LeBron after the stoppages in the final minutes of Warriors-Lakers 😂 pic.twitter.com/PSc9Z564nn
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) March 17, 2024
James said he was not given clarification as to why the basket was reviewed. All 2-pointers and 3-pointers are reviewable, though he took issue with a possession in the third quarter in which the Warriors’ shot clock inadvertently reset and they had 28 seconds to try to score, which they did.
“No,” James said when asked if he was given clarification as to what triggered the review. “I think all 2s and 3s are reviewable, I believe. At the same time, I’m not quite sure because in the third quarter, Golden State had a reset of the shot clock and they scored on that possession and that wasn’t reviewed. So I’m just … I don’t know.”
With the loss, the Lakers dropped to 36-32. The Warriors improved to 35-31 and jumped the Lakers to take control of the No. 9 seed by mere percentage points.
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(Photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty)
