LeBron James blames the referees for blown lead vs. Nuggets

• The Lakers blew a 20-point lead late in the game.
• LeBron James blamed the referees for a missed call.
• Darvin Ham won’t blame the officials.

LeBron James Rips Officials After Choke Job Vs. Nuggets

The Los Angeles Lakers have now lost ten consecutive games to the Denver Nuggets. They were quite close to putting an end to that dominance by evening things up in this series, but the outcome was the same.

Darvin Ham’s team was up 20 points late in the third quarter. Then, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray picked up the intensity and completely took over to lead their team to a two-point win.

The Lakers had played a perfect game before letting that huge lead slip right through their fingers. Then, following the loss, LeBron James ripped the officials over a single missed call.

LeBron James Calls Out The Referees

James was livid at the fact that the refs overturned a blatant foul on D’Angelo Russell. Granted, Michael Porter Jr. smacked him in the face, and he should’ve gone to the line to shoot two free throws:

LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers

“I don’t understand what’s going on in the replay center, to be honest,” James said. “D’Lo clearly gets hit in the face on a drive. What the f— do we have a replay center for if it’s going to go [like that]. It doesn’t make sense to me. It bothers me. Like, what are we doing? It’s f—ing stupid.”

Even so, the referees weren’t to blame for a blown 20-point lead. The Nuggets went to the line 17 times and the Lakers shot 13 freebies, so it’s not like there was much of a disparity.

Darvin Ham Won’t Make Up Excuses

Coach Ham, on the other hand, took a different stance. While he did acknowledge that some calls should’ve gone their way, he also admits that there was no excuse for blowing such a big lead:

“Some tough calls,” Ham said. “Some tough non-calls. But you can’t use any of that as an excuse. You gotta go out there and be ready to make plays whether the whistle gets blown or not. It’s getting real tricky — you go through the season, games being officiated one way, and then you get to the playoffs, and I guess it’s left up to the interpretation of the three individual guys that’s doing the job out there.”

see also

Darvin Ham makes up the worst excuse for Lakers" struggles against Nikola Jokic

At the end of the day, the Lakers only have themselves to blame for this choke job. Mike Malone continue to outcoach Ham, and it just seems like there’s anything they can do to beat them at this point.