The Los Angeles Lakers lost a nailbiter on Sunday to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and JJ Redick had some smoke for the officiating crew afterwards.
During Game 4 of the first-round playoff series between the two teams at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn., the Lakers blew a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter to lose to the Timberwolves 116-113. They now trail the best-of-seven series by a 3-1 margin.
One particular moment in the final minute drew scrutiny from the Lakers’ side. Luka Doncic was bringing the ball up the court for the Lakers with 35 seconds left and the Timberwolves leading 114-113. Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels was hounding Doncic in the backcourt, and Doncic ended up falling and having to call timeout. LeBron James then went on to throw away the ensuing inbounds, and the Lakers never scored again from there.
Here is the video of the play (where it looked like Doncic merely stepped on McDaniels’ foot, which was planted and had beaten Doncic to the spot).
Nevertheless, the Lakers head coach Redick was incensed after the game. He told reporters that McDaniels had committed a “blatant” trip on Doncic that the referees missed.
“Luka got tripped,” said Redick. “That was a blatant trip. He doesn’t just fall on his own. We watched it, and he gets tripped.
“So we should have been at the free throw line,” Redick continued. “That’s not an excuse for why we lost. But he got fouled.”
Doncic himself also told reporters in the postgame press conference that he believed he was tripped “for sure.”
The Lakers were in the bonus at the time, so a foul, had it been called, would have given Doncic two free throws to potentially take the lead. While there is no guarantee that the Lakers would have held on in the final 35 seconds to win, Redick clearly feels that his team was extremely disadvantaged by the no-call.
The loss also wasted an incredible performance by Doncic, who bounced back from a brutal illness in Game 3 to score 38 points on five three-pointers for the Lakers in Game 4.
