Thunder vs. Lakers: LeBron Gets Official Response To Late Foul Call Question

The Los Angeles Lakers beat Oklahoma City Thunder 138-128 in overtime on Thursday night to make it five wins out of 12 without LeBron James. After their losses to Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks lately, many were expecting them to crumble against Russell Westbrook and company.

Thunder led by as many as 17 at one stage in the game, but the Lakers managed to claw their way back in the game and could even have won it in regular time if the officials had got a late foul call on Lonzo Ball right.

The Lakers were leading by three points with 2.9 seconds on the clock and it was Russell Westbrook, who had the ball. The Thunder point guard drove towards the Lakers area and just as he was making the shot, he was fouled by Ball as he continued with his action and went on to miss his three-point attempt.

The officials ruled that the foul was committed after he began his shooting motion and thus awarded three free throws to Westbrook. The seven-time NBA All-Star promptly stepped up and converted them to send the game into overtime.

James, who is not with the team on their road trip to Oklahoma as he continues his recovery from a groin strain, showed that he was watching the game after he immediately questioned the officials call with a very sarcastic tweet, stating: “So what really is ‘in the shooting motion’ rule?!?!? Asking for a friend,” he wrote directing it towards the official account of the NBA referees.

And the three-time NBA champion did get a response as NBA referee Tom Washington spoke to pool reporter Cliff Brunt of the Associated Press after the clash between the Lakers and Thunder. The NBA crew chief did admit that the officials at the time got it wrong and went on to give a more detailed explanation as to why the call was not reviewed before awarding the free throws to Westbrook.

“The official called the foul because at the time he thought Russell had started his shooting motion and he was clearly behind the three-point line and there was illegal contact by Ball,” Washington said when asked why it was called a shooting foul on Ball, via a statement on the NBA’s official Twitter account.

“There is not a trigger to review whether or not there is a foul prior to or on the shot. The trigger would be whether it is a three-point shot or not,” he added when asked why it was not reviewed. “And upon being able to see the review of the play, we realized that the illegal contact actually happed prior to his upward motion, so it should have been a side out.”

Luckily for officials, the Lakers went on to outscore Thunder in overtime 16-6 and win the game 138-128. They will now travel to Houston to take on the Rockets in their second game of the road trip before returning home to Los Angeles.