Does corruption in officiating run rampant across all major sports leagues, or was Saturday night just a weird confluence of ineptitude? As if the Detroit Lions getting jobbed wasn’t enough, we had the greatest basketball player of all-time, LeBron James, have a defining moment in his Year 21 season wiped out.
The Lakers have struggled to find their stride all season long, save for their winning run through the first In-Season Tournament. However, LeBron hung 40 in Oklahoma City last week, and the Thunder are second in the Western Conference. Minnesota is the only team ahead of OKC right now, and LA staged a furious rally, with The King hitting a game-tying 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds left. TOUGH DAY for those who say LeBron isn’t clutch.
…Except, the moronic referees called the epic bucket a 2-pointer. Needless to say, LeBron wasn’t pleased, even sharing a screenshot of where his foot was.
The officials reviewed this and everything. Still came to the wrong conclusion. Ruined the 39th birthday of LeBron James.
At least we got a delightful postgame rant from him, though:
I can acknowledge that it was super close. It really was. But the refs had the video and the benefit of zooming in and everything. It’s cut and dry that his foot was behind the line by the smallest of margins.
That’s a trey any way you slice it.
Of course, the Timberwolves went on to win 108-106. Anthony Edwards split a pair of free throws, and the Lakers didn’t even get a final shot up.
Maybe conspiracy theories are no longer in vogue. Oh wait they totally are. Let’s add fuel to the fire, shall we?
How sketchy does that look? I mean come on.
The NBA regular season is such a slogging drag of a bore. Adam Silver must reduce the number of games to, like, 60. That’s what most superstars this side of Nikola Jokic are playing these days anyway. It’d add way more urgency to every contest, incentivize the best players to, you know, play more, and make for a much better product overall. You might even drive viewership numbers if there’s more prestige and significance surrounding each game, God forbid.
I say this because the try-hard T’Wolves are leading the West and I’ll be stunned if they get out of the first round if they go up against, say, the Lakers, Warriors, or Suns. All of whom have championship pedigrees and multiple superstars. All of whom have either dealt with a rash of injuries, are sorting through chemistry issues brought about in part by load management, and are just flat-out better for the sport of basketball and the NBA’s bottom line.
Whatever. Cool. Good job, NBA. The most exciting sh*t happening in your league is an under-advertised, awesome Thunder team in a small market, and officials continuing to have way too much say in the outcome of games.
