A rough night turned worse for LeBron James on Thursday after the Lakers superstar received a rare technical foul following a frustrating sequence late in Game 2 against the Warriors.
With L.A. trailing Golden State big with under a minute left in the third quarter, James fired up a three-pointer with Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins closing out for the contest. After the shot clanked off the rim, James turned toward referee Pat Fraher to voice his frustration with an apparent no-call after it appeared Wiggins made contact with him on the shot.
The game continued as James let Fraher hear it on the way down the floor, prompting the ref to hit the future Hall of Famer with a tech. The conversation went on between Fraher and the clearly irritated James while the Chase Center booed in the background. At the time of the call, the Lakers trailed the Warriors, 105–78 with 42.3 seconds left in the third quarter.
Referee Pat Fraher risks his life by calling a technical foul on Lebron James pic.twitter.com/lpOR2xEgNv
— hoops bot (@hoops_bot) May 5, 2023
With Thursday’s contest largely decided, James will have to endure getting hit with his first tech of the postseason on the same night that the Warriors evened the series, 1–1.
Game 3 is set for Saturday at Crypto.com Arena in L.A.. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET.
