LOS ANGELES — The final two minutes of the game clock in the Golden State Warriors' 128-121 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night took up more than 20 minutes of real playing time thanks to a series of replay and shot reviews. -Clock malfunctions.
The delays began with 1:50 remaining in the fourth period, with the Lakers trailing 124-120, when Los Angeles coach Darvin Hamm contested an out-of-bounds call that gave the Warriors possession of the ball while Lakers center Jackson Hayes and Golden State forward Andrew Wiggins were both down. He went for the rebound.
While officials were reviewing the out-of-bounds request, they decided that LeBron James' corner three on the previous trip down the court with 2:07 remaining did not count.
The Lakers ended up winning the challenge, as Hayes and Wiggins countered a jump ball, but lost points in the process.
“I've never seen it called that way before — at that particular time,” said James, who finished with 40 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. “That was kind of weird…it took some momentum away from us.”
The ruling was eerily similar to the ruling for a December game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, where a late James 3 that would have tied the score was reduced to a two-pointer after review. Just as he did that night, James disagreed with the call on Saturday.
“I couldn't believe I got on the line clearly,” James said on Saturday. “I knew how much space I had there. When I shoot, I shoot on my toes, so it's hard for me to put on low heels.”
Crew chief David Guthrie explained the ruling in a postgame statement to a pool reporter.
“James' left foot was out of bounds when he started shooting,” Guthrie said. “Yes, it is reviewable at that time. The rule is Rule 13, Section II (f)(3): Whether the shooter commits a boundary line violation, the replay center official will only look at the position of the player's feet at the boundary line.” At the moment In which they touch the ground immediately before releasing the shot. This can be applied during other reboot triggers as well. “
While the flipped No. 3 helped his team, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he will soon be living without the referee.
“I also don't like the rule that you can go back and look out of bounds, or the LeBron 3,” Kerr said. “This seems to happen once or twice a year. I'd like to see that rule go away. I think we're trying too hard to make everything perfect, at the expense of flow. I mean, who cares if there's a guy's foot half an inch off the line ? Is it worth it to go back 45 seconds and change everything, with unintended consequences? “It's not my favorite rule, for sure.”
But James defended the spirit of the replay rules.
“At the end of the day, you want to do it right,” James said. “So, it's unfortunate what happened. But obviously you want to try to make it right. And our staff has a job to do – and the referees – they have a job to do, and they have to do it to the best of their ability. So, it's all good.”
With the score back at 124-117 after James' third goal was canceled out, Wiggins won the jump ball, passing it to Draymond Green, who attempted to corral the ball near the baseline.
While James was penalized for the heel of his sneaker making contact with the out-of-bounds line, the Lakers believed the toe of Green's shoe did the same on the baseline with 1:48 remaining. So Hamm used another coach's challenge.
After another review, the refs called it out of bounds on the green, and Los Angeles was awarded possession. The Lakers got the ball in, but the officials quickly blew their whistles, noticing that the shot clock wasn't working properly. After the officials conferred with the center court scoreboard operators, Los Angeles was awarded the ball to go back in, and once again, the shot clock went down after the Lakers punted.
The false start occurred four times in a row, drawing louder and louder boos with each delay. The ABC broadcast even cut to actor-director Ben Affleck, sitting next to Jennifer Lopez, swaying in his chair, unable to hide his impatience. ABC cameras also captured James shaking his head and laughing during an extended break at the event as he said: “I'm too old for this—.”
Finally, Crypto.com Arena public address announcer Lawrence Tanter informed the crowd that he would count down the shot clock over the arena's speakers in order for play to resume.
After all that, Los Angeles got the ball and James took the ball away from Warriors star Stephen Curry (31 points), leading to a slam dunk by Jonathan Kuminga (23 points) and putting Golden State up 126-117 with one goal:07 remaining.
“It was weird,” Kerr said. “It seems like you have clock issues a few times a year. That's pretty extreme because I was part of a backup unit that didn't work as well. It's unfortunate. I felt bad for the fans. That was a great thing about the game, and in the last two minutes everyone was “They look at each other and wonder what to do.”
Multiple Lakers players pointed out that the shot clock malfunctioned during the Warriors' possession with 10:53 remaining in the fourth quarter, when the countdown went from 10 to 9, then reset to 24 and the game continued, with Trace Jackson-Davis finishing off the goal. He took possession by scoring a hook shot at 10:38 to give Golden State a 104-96 lead.
“Their points were not taken away because the clock malfunctioned,” Hamm said. “They kept playing. But it is what it is.”
This sequence was also brought up in the postgame huddle report.
“The shot clock malfunctioned during live play at that time, and this is not a reviewable matter,” Guthrie said in a statement, adding that it was the responsibility of the responsible staff to notice the inconsistency in the moment, and they failed to do so. .
Los Angeles entered the night with a one-game lead over Golden State in ninth place in the Western Conference standings. Saturday's result changed the standings of the two teams, as the Lakers now occupy tenth place with 14 games remaining.
“It will take everything to achieve some wins,” Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell (23 points and 13 assists) said. “At this time of year, everything matters.”
ESPN's Ramona Shelburne contributed to this report.
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