After the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, the tides turned two nights later as the Thunder handed L.A. a 136-120 loss, snapping their two-game skid.
However, the game ended with a fair amount of drama. Luka Doncic was ejected after receiving his second technical foul from referee J.T. Orr with about eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, while the Lakers held a narrow 108-107 lead.
Following a go-ahead floater, Doncic turned to a nearby fan to say something, which the official misinterpreted as a comment directed at him. Without hesitation, the official called the second technical, leading to Doncic’s ejection. The Lakers star quickly tried to clarify that his words were meant for the fan, not the official, but to no avail.
Shortly after, Jarred Vanderbilt of the Lakers was also hit with a technical for what the referees deemed an excessive play on Thunder’s Jalen Williams.
These controversial calls, along with a missed call on Lakers guard Austin Reaves, led to a 22-7 run by OKC after Doncic’s ejection, putting the game out of reach. For many NBA fans, it was a frustrating end to what had been shaping up to be an exciting contest.
“Exactly. Infuriating that these refs are not held accountable for this egregious calls. They can bet, turn the game, make their $ and never be held accountable. This one was most obvious,” A fan said.
This game was rigged. ref pulled a Tim Donaghy! who is that ref? please get his name,” Someone else added.
“The God complex these NBA refs walk around with is wild. You’d think they descended from Mount Olympus just to give a stupid tech to Luka Doncic. Whistle in hand, ego in overdrive, I swear some of them think the crowd came to see them.” Another fan posted.
One more fan commented, “INVESTIGATE THESE REFS IMMEDIATELY [NBA]”
Lakers guard Luka Doncic and NBA referee.
© Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
Following the game, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin spoke with the Thunder fan who had been going back and forth with Luka Doncic. The fan confirmed that Doncic’s comments were directed at him, not the official.
“OKC fan Jeremy Price, who had the 4th Q exchange with Luka Doncic, to ESPN: ‘During the game within the game, I mentioned that he was short and he missed it and he turned around and he shot an explicative [sic] back and J.T. [Orr] happened to see it and that point, T’d him up.”