LeBron, AD, Coach Ham x James Worthy React To Lakers vs Celtics | January 28, 2023

Hello and welcome back to Sportsnet Lakers driven by your Southern California Honda dealers. I'm Allie Clifton joined by the Hall of Famer, big game James Worthier, Laker insider Mike Bresnahan and just hearing Mike Breen say at the end of that game right there, it's always a fun one between the Lakers and Celtics. Certainly the two matchups this season have been that way until the end. This one's going to hurt for the Lakers and it's really hard to kind of digest. You come into this one, the Celtics, excuse me, had lost three in a row. They're on their home floor without Marcus Mark, without Robert Williams, the third and the Lakers come in, start their five game Grammy road trip all, but healthy minus that of of course, Austin Reeves play a great game, a battle back and forth. It was entertaining. It was disciplined for the Lakers offensively, defensively, and a lot like some of the matchups we have seen throughout this season as of late big game, that final possession before going to overtime is one that you have to sit with when the outcome, you put yourself in a position as LeBron James did driving to the hole and the call was not there. You don't want to blame it on that. It's played obviously throughout 48 minutes, but, but that one sits with you different. And I think you saw it with the Lakers then in overtime. Yeah. Um, you know, I thought from the beginning of the game, the Lakers had a good game plan. Uh, they were aggressive, uh, defensively, they did a really good job of, of keeping Tatum in check. Uh, you know, they were, they were spreading the love around and I thought it was, I thought it was pretty good. I thought, uh, you know, down the stretch, if we're going to the second half, the Lakers were making some turnovers that were, you know, that, that they, they shouldn't be making. Uh, but to have, you know, the regulation be decided on a non-call, it totally wipes your energy away. You just don't want to lose a game like that when it's such an obvious call, but we can look at the game and we can see some mistakes that the Lakers made throughout the 48 minutes that probably cost them the game. So that's just the nature of it. But yeah, that, that referee crew shouldn't, they shouldn't get the call too many more big games like that. It's not often we see big game also as emotionally, I mean, I can take, I can take non-calls. I mean, I know they're going to miss calls, but that one was just absolutely missed and it determined the outcome of the game. So I think in all fairness to as competitors, all you want is a position to put yourself in a position to win the game. And when it is decided that way, the Celtics were getting calls, they were going through the whole Jalen Tatum, but LeBron gets hits a lot. And for the referees to handle that the way they did, they should be ashamed. They really should. Big game. I don't ask you from a player's perspective then obviously, because we just saw there, the free throw disparity was 39 to 20 Celtics did their job, stepped up, knocked it down 34 of 39. Having said that you look at that overtime period, the Lakers did still have an extra five to play obviously, and tried to decide the outcome there, but how tough is that as a player? Yeah. I mean, you have to be able to turn something off and turn it on again. That's the nature of being an athlete. And so at the end of regulation, somehow they should have been able to kind of figure out how to clear their mind, but they couldn't. It was just so hard when you work that hard and you don't get the call. It takes seconds, like 45 seconds to recover from that. Meanwhile, Boston, getting calls, getting shots, playing their game at home. And you can see right there, man, I mean, that took, you're right, Brace, that took a lot out of LeBron. I don't know how much he had left there. I mean, in overtime right there, when they should have been speed dribbling up, they were just kind of taking their time to get that last shot. I just think that it just took him out, that non-call. And LeBron, he gets hit a lot, and he's always under the microscope for fouls, and he doesn't get them. And I've never, I've never seen him like that. I've never seen him so down and hurt from not getting a call. He's like, he's, you know, he's the leader of the league, but can break Kareem's record and can't get a call, an obvious call. James, disappointed because the Lakers did a lot of the things that they wanted to do. Jason Tatum, 8 for 25. He shot 32 percent, Allie. Anytime that happens, you have to say to yourself, you know, it's a home game for the Celtics too. You know, we have a chance. If we're holding Jason Tatum, who's one of the top two or three players in the league right now, as far as the MVP odds are concerned. Below his average. Yeah. I mean, you, you stuffed this offense, and it started with stopping Jason Tatum. And unfortunately, one call was not made. And here we are again, you know, against Dallas, some weird calls. Against Philly, remember Joel Embiid had the claw on Russ when he drove down the left side. The NBA two minute report the following day said, nope, no foul there. Okay. What can you do about that? But again, we're going to be looking at the two minute report tomorrow. Like it even means anything, just gives us more fodder to talk about. Jaylen Brown adding 37. I thought Malcolm Brogdon off the bench was an X factor for them in 26. We will talk about that coming up in just a minute. You mentioned LeBron James. I think the last time I saw him like that was NBA finals. It was a performance like that at that height. It kind of adds perspective. He obviously had 41 and this one just 44 minutes, 40 ball against the Celtics. You just want to see a good game. You just want to see a fair game. This wasn't it. We're going to head back to Boston. Let's hear from Darvin Hamm. He's speaking with Mike Trudeau on the media. Darvin, it's hard not to start with that last play. It seemed pretty clear that you hit him on the left arm. How do you kind of process that and try to rally the team to, you know, get past him playing all the time? I mean, as much as I know, I can't speak to anyone but myself. As much as you try not to put it on officiating, it's becoming increasingly difficult. Yeah, there's a bunch of stuff we could have did better in this game, but for the most part we competed our behinds off, played the right way, played together, stayed aggressive, playing downhill, playing in the paint, and it's unfortunate that, you know, the game ends on a play like that. It's unfortunate, especially with, you know, you don't ask for favoritism, you just ask for consistency. That's it. And apparently I used my challenge too soon, maybe. I don't know. But it is what it is, man. My hat's off to the Celtics. They're a hell of a ball club, championship level ball club. Played two nail biters against these guys, one in our place and one here tonight. It's a silver lining for me, is what I told my team. After the game, you know, we compete like this, everybody coming back, getting guys back in the lineup now. If we compete as hard as we competed tonight to start this trip, then we're going to be okay the rest of the way. We just got to bottle this up. And remember this pain and the agony of losing a game like this. It's a huge game, probably was one that was really, really fun to watch as a general fan, but to be a part of it, you know, it's always hotly contested when it's the Lakers and the Celtics. And, you know, I'm happy the fans enjoyed a really exciting ball game. But, you know, for us, again, there's a bunch of positives. And just hope, you know, just, I don't know, that, you know, the best player on earth can't get a call. It's amazing. Have you ever, over your career, seen LeBron react that way? And does that give you evidence that he was following the play? I mean, you have to call a cat a cat. You know, you can't look at something and try to pretend it's not what it is. And he's a guy that tried to play the right way, doesn't flop, plays downhill, plays a strong physical brand of basketball. And just because he doesn't flop or he doesn't flail, he's not screaming when he's shooting the ball like I see a ton of other players doing. He gets penalized for it, you know. I saw the same thing with Giannis. I saw the same thing, you know, when I was a player in the Shaq era. You know, it's just those guys that play physical and really try to focus on finishing plays, sometimes, you know, it doesn't go in their favor. But then you see other guys who are whimpering on every shot. Every time they get bumped, I think they're working on the head snap and all that. And they're the ones getting the whistles. So, you know, it's hard. Now, he's human, you know, at the end of the day. And it's hard for him not to get discouraged because this is something that's been going on all year. And so, I don't want to see another last-two-minute report. I don't want to, you know, they can say that. It does no one any good. And we just got to focus on how we can get better in different stretches of the game. How we can make sure we're doing what we can control, actually. What do you think of the technical foul on Patrick Beverly and Dennis? I didn't see it. I had to go back and look at it. I didn't see it. But, you know, it's an emotional game. High, high-level game. And with high-level talent, exactly what the NBA wants. And for it to come down to certain, it shouldn't have to come down to a whistle. Or, you know, or a non-whistle. You know what I'm saying? So, it's tough. But, you know, players are going to react, man. You know, now you have video on the sideline where, you know, for the sake of making sure you're challenging a proper call, you know, or making, I should say, making a proper challenge to dispute a call, you have video on the sideline. And for the guys to watch the replay of it, it's human nature, man. They're going to be disappointed, discouraged. You're in the moment. You're fighting your butt off. And, you know, something doesn't go your way. That should have. And it's sad. Do you think if you get a successful challenge, does the coach be able to retain the challenge? That would be a great idea. Or maybe add a fourth official. I don't know. But something's got to change, man. It's too much. The game is sped up. It's speeding up. It's getting faster and faster every day. These guys are highly skilled athletes. They're playing at a very high level. And we've got to be able to get things right as much as possible. Coach, understanding that your team was upset with a call that seemingly should have gone your way, did you feel, though, like that bled into that early part of overtime? I mean, it remained competitive. I mean, again, we had some, you know, unfortunate turnovers, unfortunate missed shots within the game and within the overtime. Like I said, it's a bunch that we can do better. We have to handle our business better, too. I'm not in no way, shape, or form using this as an excuse. Not for me. I'm just telling you what it is. But, yeah, I think, you know, we definitely could have did things better on our end to not even put ourselves in this position. But, you know, we have how many games we play now? 50? We've got 32 games to figure this thing out. We sub 500 by four games. And, again, if we put in this type of effort and this type of togetherness and this attention to detail defensively and the ball movement offensively, I think we'll be okay. I think we're going to be okay. Two lines from Darwin Ham that stood out to me right there, guys. As much as you try to not put it on officiating, it's becoming increasingly difficult. Again, as we've talked about, as of late with the Lakers and the best player on earth, the game can't get a call. It's amazing. Yeah, it's pathetic. And it's embarrassing for the NBA referees because they are really inconsistent with their calls. And Darwin Ham is right. They call like touchy calls with guys. And LeBron gets hit a lot. And I'm not just saying that because I'm a Laker fan and I love LeBron. I'm looking at what everyone else is looking at. And so when I see it, it's just what it is. And it happens with other teams, too. It happens. I see other players get hit. But, yeah, it screwed the outcome of the game. I don't care what anybody says. The Lakers could have not turned it over early in the game. They could have shot free throws better. But that particular play right there determined the outcome of the game. Whether the Lakers were going to win or lose was that play. Over time, the Lakers didn't fare very well because after that play, you just... I mean, you saw LeBron. He didn't have anything else after that. You know, when you're battling against five on eight, sometimes it takes time to conjure that momentum up again. And by the time they were able to get something going in overtime, it was too late. But that play, with that referee standing right there looking at it... And I don't harp on refs too much because I know it's a hard job, but that was not a hard thing to do. And it almost seemed like, you know, their egos went in this game. They need to check that. They need to check the refs, man. They sucked tonight. They sucked. A double-double for A.D. in the loss in his second game since his return from injury. Let's go inside the locker room. He's there with Mike. Well, A.D., not to focus the whole thing on that one play, but what did you see on play? It looked like Tatum got LeBron's arm pretty clearly. Yeah. Today, like, it's unacceptable. And I guarantee nothing's going to happen to the refs. We got cheated tonight, honestly. It's a blatant foul. Pat got all ball on Brown. Jalen Brown called a foul. And LeBron just smacked across his arm. It's unacceptable, to be honest. The refs were bad. They were bad tonight. Did you guys feel that going into the OT? Is it tough to kind of clear that mentally and still play? You know, we missed a shot, you know. And I feel just like the one in L.A. You know, I missed a free throw. They make a shot. You live with it. You go overtime, you know, to miss a call. I mean, that blatant ref sitting right there on the baseline. You know, it's tough. I mean, you saw how Brown reacted, how the team reacted. It's tough, though, to swallow. Yeah. A.D., you guys were able, though, to exert your will. It seemed seemingly the entire game. What were the things that you thought that were working? Brown being Brown. Guys making plays. Pat played really well. Brooks, Dennis, Troy. I mean, all the guys played well. I mean, I could have done a better job myself. Offensively. Touch wasn't there. You know, we just didn't have the shot for all the night. But we got everything we wanted. You know, I mean, we gave up some things defensively. But I think we did a good job on both ends of the floor. And then to do that, you know, to come here, they're the best team in the league. You know, and then to do that and be treated like that is just a tough pill to swallow. A.D., you guys have been in this situation as a team a few times now. What would you like to see the league do? Is there anything the league could do? I don't do anything. It's going to be a next game. It's going to be over with. You know, talk to the ref. Yeah, that was a foul. It goes on. It's not fair. And I guarantee if the refs start getting fined for missed calls, it'll be a lot better. But, you know, nothing's going to be done. So Darwin was just talking about consistency. So if they're going to give the call on Brown on one end and then a couple seconds later, is that part of it that's hard to square if it's a touch foul in that sense? I mean, yeah, and it wasn't even a touch foul. Like, he clearly smacked his arm. The ball didn't even move. Smacked his arm. Like, it's tough. I mean, they said it don't come down to that play, but it came down to that play. You know, a lot of emotions going into overtime. You know, trying to gather ourselves, you know, to go win a basketball game. Like I say, I mean, I take a lot of ownership on my play tonight. Still trying to get a feel and everything, but, I mean, that was a game. Kyle? Just how tough? I mean, you're sort of alluding it to right there. How tough was it mentally? Do you feel like you guys ever kind of collected yourselves in that overtime mentally from that disappointment? We tried. You know, obviously we got to go out on the court and continue to play the game of basketball and try to win a game. But you're still thinking about it. I mean, you're not even supposed to be in that situation, to be honest. You're not supposed to be playing overtime. But, like I say, emotions are very high in this game, you know, that we play. Pretty sure, you know, it was on his mind the whole overtime and, you know, all our guys. You know, so, just tough. You played 34 minutes tonight. How did you feel with the ramped up, you know, workload and just playing a tough team and just kind of where you're at right now physically? I felt fine. Legs felt fine. Just trying to get, you know, I had some good looks. Missed them. Easy shots that I normally make, but, you know, just trying to come back around. When I say legs is fine, wind is fine, just, you know, got to get back to how it was. We have to win games, you know. We have to play to win games. But when you're playing hard enough to win and you get this, a few calls that it takes something. It takes some mustard away from you. And I just hate to see officiating that is so inconsistent that you notice it. There are calls they're going to miss. We see that. But when it's that obvious that it changes the outcome of a game and changes the whole outlook of a game and then them running over there to the table and doing that little video thing, it just, it's bad. It just looks bad. And then forget the two-minute report. That's the worst thing ever. Thank you. Get the officiating right and you won't have to do the two-minute report. And other teams have come under this as well. There's been other teams that have had bad calls against them that kind of determined the outcome of the game. Referees, it's gotten worse. There's some good referees, but they just got really inconsistent over the years, in my opinion. We've been waiting for this moment as well. LeBron with his fifth 40-point game since turning 38. He's not in a mood to celebrate. He's in the locker room with Mike. LeBron, just your perspective on that last play in regulation. It's not my reaction. Darvin's words were, you know, best player in the world. Can't get a call. It's been an ongoing theme the last couple weeks. There were a couple in early January. How do you kind of balance the frustration of the moment just considering all the games that you played? It's challenging. Very challenging. I don't get it. I'm attacking the paint just as much as any of the other guys in this league that's shooting double-digit free throws a night. And, you know, I don't get it. I don't understand it. LeBron, have you had any communication with the league beyond just speaking to the refs tonight or have you asked the Lakers to ask for communication? I don't get into that. If our organization decided they want to do that, that's cool, but it ain't going to change. We've watched you play your entire career but I don't think I've ever seen you that frustrated before with the reaction. Is that one of the most frustrating moments for you? Has it been? Or has it just been building? It's been building. I mean, you guys have seen some of the games that we've lost this year with late game missed calls. We had an opportunity to literally, you know, win the game. I mean, that's, you know, I had the second one in the last few weeks for myself against Dallas. Had an opportunity to win the game if the foul was called. K-9 the other day. Had an opportunity to tie the game if, you know, the four-point play is called. I don't understand. I don't understand what we're doing. And I watch basketball every single day. I watch these games every single day and I don't see it happening to nobody else. It's just weird. You guys had several last two-minute reports show that you guys could have benefited from a call that was missed. And then, you know, there's a system in place now if you are to speak about how the officiating went. The league has the ability to find a player. Is that just a rock on? What's the recourse for a player to see change? I don't know. I suppose it's one thing if you're, you know, top of the standings or something, but when you guys are still fighting to try to get above water and these games happen, how do you, kind of as a leader of the team, how do you come back the next day? Well, good thing we don't have a game tomorrow, so we get an opportunity to rest a little bit. If you're a football fan, you can watch the AFC and NFC championship games. Kind of get your mind off the game, but we don't, like I told you guys, we don't have room for error. And it's one of the best games we've played all year. And for it to fall on somebody else's, to fall on somebody else's judgment or non-judgment is just ridiculous. It's ridiculous. Take that and put it in the fireplace. We don't want to hear that. We don't want to hear this. Take the two-minute report and just, you know, who wants to hear this? We looked at it and it was a foul. The game's over. We lost. So, this was stupid to me. I'm pissed off, man. I love it. Watching LeBron there, too, as expected, you said it yourself. He's hurting. You know, look, the guy puts everything into his craft. Whether you like him or not, whether you're a Laker fan or not, you know, you have to be able to understand. I'm getting all these tweets about, you know, shut up. It wasn't a foul. You know, the obvious is there. LeBron puts everything into his game, mentally, physically. He shows up every night and he represents the NBA globally. And to not be able to get a call, an obvious call. Now, I can see some calls that you're not going to get. It happens in the NBA. But, you know, the one call where Westbrook, he talked about the games that we've lost because of non-call. And then we get that little baloney two-minute report. That's bad. That's really bad. And I think you need to figure out how to, maybe in the last three minutes, you can keep a challenge or something because when you win it successfully, I know in the NFL they get to keep theirs. I don't understand what's going on with some of the rules and going over there to look at that video and calling back to Secaucus and all this stuff. To me, it's done something to the game that's not pretty. Kind of ugly, actually. It's just a sad game to watch. It's a big game. National televised game for the NBA and it has to go like this. It sucks.