The Clippers, without their two superstars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, edged the Lakers 105-102. The game did not go without a controversy though.
Late in the fourth quarter the Lakers were on the offensive being one point down. LeBron James grabbed the rebound after Russell Westbrook missed the shot but the referees called it out of bounds and gave the ball to the Clippers.
LeBron’s out of bounds play was followed by Robert Covington stepping out of bounds too and that was the point when the referees blew the whistle.
However, after reviewing the play, they decided that James was first to step out of bounds. Lakers head coach was very disappointed by the way the officials called this play that could have cost his team the game.
“It’s complicated play, man,” Vogel said postgame. “The time is just… they’re going to take as much time as it takes to get it right. I disagree strongly with the ruling. I think it’s total B.S.
“They called the play dead when Covington steps out of bounds and they try to tell me that because it was close to that play that Bron was out of bounds so then it’s gonna be Clippers ball.
“The whistle doesn’t blow until Covington steps out of bounds, so they go back to Bron stepping out of bounds is a separate entity entirely.
“I couldn’t disagree more strongly with the ruling. Do you go back further than that? Then how about LeBron got pushed out of bounds? Like, why don’t we go back to that?
“Just… it’s wrong. They were going to challenge it any way, whether we call timeout or not. It should have been our ball in that situation. Very disappointed.”
