It's safe to say LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers weren't all that heartened by the league office quickly copping to the referees' obvious mistake at the end of regulation in Saturday's overtime loss to the Boston Celtics. Magic Johnson, unsurprisingly, didn't take kindly to the egregious no-call that likely cost his former team a much-needed win against its longtime rival, either.
The Lakers legend was still stewing about the officials' gaffe on Sunday morning, venting his frustration on Twitter.
“In last night’s Lakers loss to the Celtics the referees completely blew the call on LeBron in the closing seconds. What made it worse is there was a referee right up under the basket watching the play unfold!” Johnson tweeted.
Replay of James' missed left-handed layup just before the fourth-quarter buzzer sounded showed Jayson Tatum raking the four-time champion across his shooting arm. After the game, Tatum couldn't help but make light of the game-saving non-call that helped the Celtics pull away in overtime for a 125-121 victory.
Johnson noticed.
“Even Jayson Tatum was laughing after the game because he was surprised the refs didn’t call the foul Lol!”
Joel Embiid dropped 47 points on Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in a comeback win by the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday. Then Kyrie Irving took over in the fourth quarter, leading the Brooklyn Nets to victory over the cross-river New York Knicks.
But like so many Lakers fans, for Johnson the no-call on James marred an otherwise epic day of basketball.
“The blown call put a damper on otherwise a great day of rivalry basketball. It was a big showcase for the NBA and the games were spectacular and amazing!”
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