DENVER (AP) — LeBron James was seeing red after the Los Angeles Lakers saw a golden opportunity slip away.
His frustration wasn’t so much focused on blowing a 20-point lead. Or his last missed 3-point shot that ended in a tie game. Or Jamal Murray’s buzzer-beater that gave the Denver Nuggets a 101-99 victory over the Lakers in Game 2 of their first-round series Monday night.
James’ anger was further away: that of the NBA proofreading center in Secaucus, New Jersey. At the heart of his anger was a second-half foul by Michael Porter Jr. that was overturned, with the league saying MPJ made only marginal contact on D’Angelo Russell.
“I don’t understand what’s going on in the replay center, to be honest,” said James, whose team returns to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday with a 2-0 deficit. “D-Lo clearly gets hit in the face during the ride. What the (expletive) do we have a proofreading center…that doesn’t make sense. It does not mean anything. That bothers me.”
James wasn’t his usually effusive self in his postgame interview after the Lakers saw Murray and the Nuggets come back from a 68-48 hole to earn their 10th straight victory over the Lakers.
James had a chance to give the Lakers the lead with about 16 seconds left on a wide-open 3-pointer.
“Eliminated,” lamented James, who finished with 26 points and 12 assists.
Porter grabbed the rebound, setting up Murray’s game-winner, a fadeaway jumper over Anthony Davis as time expired.
James got straight to the point after the match.
— On Denver’s comeback, which was notably dominated 32-20 in the fourth: “We missed shots. We always have great looks and we just missed them. And they succeeded. »
— On Russell making seven 3s after going 1 for 9 early in the series: “We never lost confidence in him. D-Lo is D-Lo.”
— On whether the Lakers can bring anything from this game to Game 3 in Los Angeles: “Every game is its own challenge.”
— On the challenges after a heartbreaking loss: “Of course, it’s a heartbreaking game and you don’t want to lose that way.”
That’s when James began to express his frustration with the replay center. Earlier in the game, Murray was cautioned for a foul when James drove to the basket, only for the Nuggets to successfully contest the foul.
In his rant at the replay center, James referenced Monday’s previous game, when the New York Knicks rallied in the final 30 seconds for a wild 104-101 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers. The Knicks got Donte DiVincenzo’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 13 seconds left, a possession that started when they stole the ball from Tyrese Maxey. Joel Embiid said Maxey was fouled and coach Nick Nurse and some players tried to call a timeout before the Knicks got the ball back.
“What are we doing?” ” James said as he finished his post-match interview.
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