BOSTON — Anthony Davis sat in his chair in a quiet and disappointed Lakers locker room, a towel over his shoulders, his ire about the officials coming out very strong. The normally low-key forward was unafraid to bash the referees on a night when the Lakers were sure they came out on the wrong end of calls Saturday night against the rival Boston Celtics.
The no-call on LeBron James' drive to the basket at the end of the fourth quarter was the most upsetting aspect for Davis and the Lakers in a 125-121 overtime loss.
The score was tied at 105-105 when James got the ball with 4.1 seconds left. He drove to the basket, getting to the left side for a potential game-winning layup. But then it appeared as if Jayson Tatum fouled James, hitting him on the arm, but no foul was called and the game went into overtime, where the Lakers lost.
"He fouled him. He fouled him. Clearly. Clearly," said Davis, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds in his second game back from injury. "It's bulls---. But at the end of the day, like, it's unacceptable. And I guarantee nothing is gonna happen to the refs. … It's not fair. And I guarantee that if the refs started getting fined for missed calls, it'd be a lot better.
"We got cheated tonight, honestly. It's a blatant foul. Pat [Beverly] got all ball on I think Brown — Jaylen Brown. They call a foul. And Bron gets smacked across the arm [and they don't]. It's unacceptable, to be honest. The refs were bad. They were bad tonight."
Aw, yes, there was also the delayed foul called on Beverley. Brown scored, pulling the Celtics to within 105-104. But after a few seconds, the referees called a foul on Beverley, to the dismay of the Lakers. Brown made the free throw to tie the score.
That's when it came down to the no-call on James.
Worse, it wasn't until late Saturday night that the referees told a pool reporter, "There was contact. At the time, during the game, we did not see a foul. The crew missed the play."
James took just six free throws, making five.
Tatum and Brown, on the other hand, shot a combined 23 free throws, making 20.
"They're not gonna do anything next game," Davis said. "It's gonna be over with. 'Talk to the refs. Yeah, it was a foul.' And then it goes on. … But nothing will be done."
Walker plays well in return
The assumption was that it would take Lonnie Walker IV some time to get his game back in gear.
Walker actually was pretty good against the Celtics, his first game since missing the previous 14 with left knee tendinitis.
He had 13 points on six-for-eight shooting, one for three on three-pointers.
"You bring him along slowly, you know what I mean?" Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. "And allow him to play himself back into rhythm. Just being healthy is half the battle. You have to be healthy and be in rhythm. That's going to take a little bit of time. Especially for a perimeter player."
In his first 32 games, all starts for the Lakers, Walker was solid.
He was averaging 14.7 points per game and shooting 45.5% from the field.
