[Athletic] “… Lakers were irritated by the Warriors’ submitting several plays for review by the NBA after their Game 1 loss to the Lakers.” 😡

25 comments

1. Who got the paywall plug, I just dropped hella money on tickets I ain’t paying for this

2. can you copy/paste the relevant piece? i don’t have a subscription to the athletic anymore

3. Since Game 1, Warriors realized they can’t beat the Lakers even with all their illegal screenings and Looney’s dangerous shoving that they’re just pulling everything they can outside of a basketball court to complain to the refs and to the NBA.

   P.S.
   [Main excerpt of the article posted below.](https://www.reddit.com/r/lakers/comments/13eup9w/comment/jjrpsm3/)

4. Warriors are doing everything to win the series. We better send the league a compilation of moving screens and looney’s inappropriate physicality, to put it kindly.

5. GOLDEN STATES KARENS!!! “Defending” champions. What a pathetic team.

6. Warriors and their fans stay soft. Get away with dirty plays, illegal screens, throwing elbows like it’s the UFC. Fuck em!

7. Whiny bitches. Hope we curb stomp them like Draymond did to Sabonis

8. Meat of the excerpt:

   ————

   Not long after Game 5 began, the familiar Too Short song began to play on the arena loudspeakers: “Blow the whistle … tweet, tweet!” And make no mistake, it’s the unofficial anthem of this series.

   As I wrote after Game 2, it didn’t take long for the officiating to become a focal point for both sides. Yet while the discontent had remained mostly behind-the-scenes early on, the back-and-forth has only grown more public in recent days. After Kerr complained in the wake of the Warriors’ Game 4 loss that the Lakers “took some flops and were rewarded,” and that they “are a team that plays with a lot of gamesmanship,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham had plenty to say in response after Game 5.

   “We play a physical brand of basketball,” Ham said when asked about Kerr’s comments. “We don’t teach flopping. We don’t teach head snaps. You see Bron (LeBron James), (and) he’s got a thousand scratches on his arms, same with AD, same with Austin Reaves, same with Lonnie Walker. It’s unfortunate that it comes to that, but we hadn’t (focused on flopping) all year, and we’re damn sure not going to start now, looking for a third party to dive in and help us. We’re just going to coach our team, just going to play the way we play — a physical, forceful brand of basketball and just let the chips fall where they may.”

   Hit the rewind button for a brief moment there, and focus on this part of what Ham had to say: “…we’re damn sure not going to start now, looking for a third party to dive in and help us.”

   As a Lakers source with knowledge of the situation explains it, they were irritated by the Warriors’ decision after Game 1 to submit several plays for review by the NBA. While this is normal fare for this time of year, the league’s choice to be fully transparent when it comes to communication about postseason calls being questioned means each team can, in essence, see how much the other side is complaining.

   In terms of the process, teams have a ‘Team Inquiry website’ where they can indicate which plays they wish to be reviewed after each game. That information is shared with their opponent, as is any email, text or phone call in which a dispute of any specific call is communicated.

   For context relating to these sorts of postseason mind games between teams, consider this much: league sources say the Kings made a concerted effort not to highlight too many clips with the NBA during their first-round series against the Warriors for fear of these sorts of optics. Ironically, it seems the Warriors now find themselves fighting the perception that they’re counting on the league to aid their cause when it comes to the referees.

   As it relates to this series, the Lakers were clearly annoyed with the Warriors on the officiating front even before Kerr’s comments and became even more agitated after he accused them of embellishing for the sake of the whistle. But as our Law Murray chronicled so well on Sunday, we’ve never seen a playoff series where the team with the best differential of free throws (the Lakers) meets the team with the worst differential of free throws (the Warriors). It’s a safe bet, in other words, that this topic will remain relevant until a victor is decided.

   As it stands, the Lakers are averaging 23.6 free throws to the Warriors’ 13.2. That margin of 10.4 is significantly more than the regular season difference of 6.4 between these two teams (26.6 for the Lakers; 20.2 for the Warriors). In terms of overall free throw attempts in this round of the playoffs, the Lakers’ 118 is tied with Miami for second among the eight remaining teams (trailing New York’s 136). The Warriors are eighth with just 66 free throws, and the seventh-place Suns are a distant second-to-last with 93.

   “When the physicality is there, and they let you play and it’s even on both sides, it’s a fun game to be a part of,” DiVincenzo explained. “I think when the game kind of stops, and a lot of free throws are being had, there’s a rhythm to the game. And when there’s that many free throws, that’s when the rhythm of the game feels messed up. And then that’s when you nitpick the refs, and coaches on both sides are nitpicking, and the whistle stops four times for them in a row. Then it goes back and forth. But I think tonight, there was a good flow, a good rhythm to the game. They let us play, and it was super fun to be out there.”

   So is this war of words escalating?

   “I’ve seen it way worse,” Curry said when asked that very question. “But the more you play a team, the more stuff comes out — and the power of this microphone and the gamesmanship back and forth. It’s all a part of it. Nothing that is surprising. Even from game to game. So I mean, there’s respect, but there’s competition. And everything is catered to just trying to win four games. That’s what you expect.”

9. Hope to God we’ve done the same after last night

10. The warriors team is just like their fans. Cunts

11. So basically Warriors’ only way to win is keep committing hard fouls and hope refs are blind. And it worked last night.

12. Ironic given Warriors track records for illegal screens, blatant fouls not called and extensive usage of Draymond to injury players. Steve Kerr is one unlikeable coach such a hypocrite

13. Time for Ham to send in the tapes of Draymond and Looney. Fouled out in the first quarter

14. Lol we should send a tape of game 5 in its entirety to the NBA then

15. About time these mofos need to get investigated, between looney and draymond playing dirty af, and the no calls when they play at home shit is deteriorating the sport.

16. I just hope we end their “dynasty” tomorrow. That way I can tell all them lame ass GSW fans (besides my extended family) to shut the fuck up.

17. I love no “third party” line. That’s a quote the boys will be fired up about. Good stuff Darvin.

18. Lakers win game 6 and move on. That’s all that matters. No Game 7 in GS please.

19. My issue with the Warriors is they want to have their cake and eat it too. Only want it called a certain way for themselves and they know that’s the only way they can advance

20. Well they got favorable calls in game 5 and game 4 was called evenly in terms of FTs I believe. We’re gonna get favorable calls in game 6, that’s just the way it goes. Lakers in 6.

21. I don’t understand why we don’t do the same thing. Maybe more of these screens will be called illegal.

22. A team that employs draymond and had been using illegal screens for like 8 years cannot be complaining to the refs

23. I hope the Lakers are submitting plays of their own.

24. I knew they did this shit. And Steve Kerr after game one in press conference alluded to not having any issues with the officiating

25. Lakers should return the favor and send every possession draymond is guarding ad. They protect guards landing zone like there life depends on it. Yet Everytime ad shoots the ball draymond makes sure ad has to fall to protect himself or land on draymond.