On January 6th, Beijing time, the game between the Lakers and the Rockets sparked the biggest controversy, which is quite rare. After the game, James, Davis, and Redick, the three giants of the Lakers, teamed up to fiercely criticize the referees and the Rockets team, as they were not willing to accept this loss.
James and the Lakers have always been gracious in defeat, but after this game, they could no longer tolerate it. The three superstars criticized the referees together, which is a very rare situation for the Lakers this season. Redick, as the team's coach, was the first to lead the charge against the referees, believing that there was a major controversial call. He said that the foul on Davis' screen was due to a Houston player flopping. At the time, Davis knocked down Houston's Holiday, and Redick claimed that Holiday flopped, questioning the referee's decision.
What's more amusing is that after Davis committed the foul on the screen, James actually made the three-pointer. However, because of the early foul, the referees did not count it. The Lakers would have been within one point with that three-pointer, so it's not like they didn't have a chance. But once that play happened, it really was no longer an opportunity.
Not only that, but Davis also came out to say that when he knocked down Aaron Holiday, it wasn't his offensive foul; it was the other side flopping. He said that Holiday grabbed his arm and then fell to the ground, making it look like he was pushing someone, but that wasn't the case.
James also mentioned that the referees were unfair, but what he was concerned about was not this so-called flop play. Although they all felt that the other side was flopping in this play, more importantly, James felt that when Christie passed the ball to him and it was intercepted, it should have clearly been a timeout.
He had called for a timeout, but it was ignored, as the referees did not grant it. He asked, "I called for my own timeout, what does it mean that you don't give it to me?" Therefore, James was very dissatisfied and believed that the referees were unfair in this play. If the referees had granted the timeout at that time, allowing the Lakers to reset their strategy, they might still have had a chance, especially since the score difference was only 3 points. What if James had made a game-tying three-pointer? They would have won, right?
This loss did not have a significant impact on the Lakers' ranking; they remained fifth in the West. However, seeing James leading Davis and Redick in directly criticizing the referees undoubtedly revealed many things, indicating that the referees in the league can no longer target the Lakers. Why does he always have to be watched by the referees?
From key moments of flopping during screens to timeouts being overlooked, and controversially being called for an offensive foul after colliding with Amen Thompson, James is already 40 years old, yet he still has to endure unfair treatment from the referees. Is this appropriate?