Redick, Lakers Gripe About Officiating After Game 2 Loss

“I sarcastically said the other day, (the Thunder are) the most disruptive team without fouling,” Redick said. “I mean, they have a few guys that foul on every possession. … They’re hard enough to play. They’re hard enough to play, you’ve got to be able to just call them if they foul, and they do foul.”

Through two games, the free throw disparity between the two teams isn’t significant — the Thunder have gone to the line 38 times, while the Lakers have attempted 34 free throws. However, Los Angeles’ leading scorer and play-maker LeBron James only has five of those free throw attempts, prompting Redick to specifically address the way the four-time MVP is being officiated.

“LeBron has the worst whistle of any star player I’ve ever seen,” Redick said. “I mean, I’ve been with him two years now. The smaller guys, because they can be theatric, they typically draw more fouls, and the bigger players that are built like LeBron, it’s hard for them. He gets clobbered. He got clobbered again tonight a bunch.

“And that’s not like a new thing. That’s not specific to this crew or this series. He gets fouled a lot and it doesn’t (get called). The guy gets hit on the head more than any player I’ve seen on drives, and it rarely gets called.”

As McMenamin observes, James appeared to express his displeasure with a number of calls over the course of the game, but he declined to speak about the officiating after the game. Reaves was more willing to discuss the subject, explaining that he took particular exception to a moment when crew chief John Goble “yelled in my face” as the Lakers guard was attempting to get in position for a jump ball (Twitter video link).

“At the end of the day, we’re grown men. And I just didn’t feel like he needed to yell in my face like that,” Reaves said. “I told him that. I wasn’t disrespectful. I told him if I did that to him first, I would have got a tech. I feel like the only reason I didn’t get a tech is because he knew he was in the wrong. So, yeah, I just felt disrespected.”

Regardless of whether or not the Lakers have legitimate gripes about the officiating, neither of the first two games in the series has been close, with the Thunder winning each one by 18 points. A more favorable whistle wouldn’t solve Los Angeles’ real problems in the matchup, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic. Redick acknowledged as much during his post-game remarks.

“We didn’t lose because of the refs,” the Lakers’ coach said, per Law Murray of The Athletic. “That’s never the case. You don’t lose because of the officials. You lose because the other team outplayed you. They obviously outplayed us. … So we just got to be better, and we’ll look at how we can be better at both ends.”