On the milestone night of his career total points exceeding the 40,000 mark tonight, LeBron James led the team to a 114-124 loss to the Nuggets with 26 points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals. After a careful review and analysis of the key moments in the final quarter of this crucial game, we found that the referee's multiple blows for the game clearly did not intend for James to win on this special anniversary.
James showed amazing strength in the game, contributing 26 points, four rebounds, nine assists and three steals, but the Lakers still lost 114-124 to the Nuggets. The game entered a decisive final quarter, and James scored 13 points in a single quarter to lead the Lakers to a lead for a while. However, in the final stages of the game, the Lakers suffered an unexpected headwind turnaround, and the referee's blowing obviously had an impact on the outcome of the game. When we look at this phenomenon, it is essential to consider the following basic facts:
First, so far this season, the Lakers rank seventh in the league in free throws per game, while the Nuggets are averaging 20 per gameThree free throws ranked third from the bottom in the league. Secondly, the Lakers, as the home division in this game, should normally enjoy a certain degree of home whistle discount. Moreover, at the end of the first three quarters, the Lakers relied on free throws to achieve an overwhelming 10-4 advantage, including an 8-3 score at the free throw line, winning a five-point advantage.
For the general trend of the game, the Lakers should at least not be lost, if not further protected by free throws on this basis. And what is the actual situation? Let's take a look at the referee's eight controversial blows in the final quarter. As the core player of the Lakers, James launched a strong attack on the inside in the game, and the opponent's Porter Jr. also gave corresponding resistance, but the referee did not give a two-plus-one penalty.
Immediately after, the Nuggets started a positional battle, Jokic faced the opponent Reddish's misplaced back single, and in the moment before the final shot, the abduction of his left hand was so conspicuous that teammate Dinwiddie couldn't help but remind the referee that it was an offensive foul, however, the referee ignored it. The same puzzling situation reappeared, when Jokic clearly touched the ball out of the baseline during the Nuggets' defensive round in a positional battle, but the referee continued to award the ball to the Nuggets, and the Lakers had to challenge to win the ball.
James launched another attack on the inside, and the opponent's Gordon followed closely behind to defend, he was very active in the process of defense, and his right hand obviously slapped James's right arm, causing James to fall to the ground and still hold his fingers on his arm back and forth, in great pain, but the referee did not respond to his warning. With the referee involved, more bizarre events happened again. In the case of Jokic's passing error, the Lakers have not yet raised any objections, and the referees have not hesitated to transfer the ball to the Nuggets, and all the ** of the Lakers is in vain.
However, James has already done his best to hit the basket in the hope of getting help from the home whistle, but unfortunately it backfired, James failed to enjoy the special treatment of the home whistle, and only got the only free throw opportunity in the entire final quarter of the whole game, which became one of the important factors for the Lakers to be counterattacked. Therefore, from the perspective of the home whistle competition, the referee's eight "blows" in the final quarter did not actually give any positive impetus to LeBron James' desire to win the game on record night.