After the Toronto Raptors fell 132-131 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night, the entire basketball world couldn't help but chime in on the many foul calls against the losing team.
Lakers star LeBron James didn't see it as much of a controversy, however.
"I felt like they fouled and we didn't," he said.
Let's dive into what it actually means by "they fouled and we didn't."
To start, the Lakers have ranked eighth in the NBA in free-throw attempts per games at 24.3, a number that was nearly met in the fourth quarter alone.
On the night, Los Angeles garnered a monstrous 23-2 free-throw advantage in the fourth, the largest discrepancy of any NBA game played this season. The Lakers made their way to the line 36 times, nearly 12 more attempts than their season average.
The Lakers' Anthony Davis, who tied his season-high with 41 points, went to the charity stripe 14 times. The Raptors finished the night with 13 free throws, and attempted none in the last four minutes of the game.
The Lakers attempted 19 free throws in the last four minutes, something that clearly did not sit well with Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic.
“That’s outrageous,” Rajakovic said at the beginning of his post-game press conference. “What happened tonight is completely B.S. This is shame for the referees.
"How is possible that Scottie Barnes, who is an all-star calibre player in this league, goes every single time to the rim with force, and tries to get to the rim without flopping and not trying to get foul calls, he gets two free throws for the whole game? How is that possible?"
Barnes, who has been in the midst of an most-improved-player type of season, with an uptick in nearly every single statistical category, has attempted just 13 free throws in five games since the turn of the new year.
He had two games in succession where he went to the line zero times.
On Tuesday, there also were potential missed calls that could have swung the momentum in favour of the Raptors.
With 15 seconds left in the game, Barnes drove the ball straight down the court and with the Lakers' Max Christie draped all over him, slammed it into the net and immediately complained to the referee Ben Taylor about a no-call.
"This is not happening first time for us. Scottie Barnes is going to be (an) all-star. He's going to be the face of the league." continued Rajakovic. "What's happening over here during whole season, I've been holding it back, it's complete crap.
“They had to win tonight? If that's the case, just let us know so we don't show up for the game. Just give them the win. That was not fair tonight."
This is not the first time that Ben Taylor, the chief crew for Tuesday's game, has been involved in a Raptors controversy. Last season, then-Raptor Fred VanVleet ate a hefty $30,000 fine for “public criticism of the officiating” after he criticized Taylor's officiating in a loss against the Los Angeles Clippers on March 8.
The referees have been in the news this week, after the league admitted that the referees got a call game-changing call wrong surrounding Boston's Jaylen Brown and Indiana's Buddy Hield on a review from referee James Williams on Monday.
James voiced his opinion on that call, too.
Meanwhile, circle April 2 on your calendar. That's when the Lakers face the Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.
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