The Los Angeles Lakers fell to 0-2 in its Western Conference Semifinals series against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night. After the game, head coach JJ Redick made his feelings on officiating thus far in the series very clear.
“I sarcastically said the other day, they’re the most disruptive team without fouling,” Redick said of the Thunder, via ESPN. “I mean, they have a few guys that foul on every possession. … They’re hard enough to play. They’re hard enough to play, you’ve got to be able to just call them if they foul, and they do foul.”
Redick also took exception with how Lakers’ star LeBron James has been officiated.
“LeBron has the worst whistle of any star player I’ve ever seen,” Redick said. “I mean, I’ve been with him two years now. The smaller guys, because they can be theatric, they typically draw more fouls, and the bigger players that are built like LeBron, it’s hard for them. He gets clobbered. He got clobbered again tonight a bunch.
“And that’s not like a new thing. That’s not specific to this crew or this series. He gets fouled a lot and it doesn’t [get called]. The guy gets hit on the head more than any player I’ve seen on drives, and it rarely gets called.”
Lakers guard Austin Reaves was also unhappy with the officiating and got into a confrontation with referee John Goble.
“I felt like I was respectful to all of them all night. I mean, there’s a million times in the past I’ve said way worse stuff,” Reaves said. “And when we were doing the whole jump ball when [the Thunder players] were switching spots, I wanted to get on the other side because they had a guy on the other side, was just trying to keep an advantage. And [Goble] turned around and just yelled in my face. I just thought it was disrespectful.
“At the end of the day, we’re grown men. And I just didn’t feel like he needed to yell in my face like that. I told him that. I wasn’t disrespectful. I told him if I did that to him first, I would have got a tech. I feel like the only reason I didn’t get a tech is because he knew he was in the wrong. So, yeah, I just felt disrespected.”
The series will now shift to Los Angeles, where the Lakers will hope for a more favorable whistle.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.