The Lakers were furious with the officiating during their Game 2 loss to the Thunder on Thursday night, and they let them hear about it.
After L.A. lost 125-107 to fall behind 2-0 in their Western Conference semifinal series, guard Austin Reaves got in the faces of the officials and gave them a long lecture. The rest of his teammates were gathered around, and LeBron James could be seen nodding along with his teammate.
Video is below.
Reaves and the Lakers pressing the officiating crew š pic.twitter.com/DpGtVgnUXE
ā Shabazz š« (@ShowCaseShabazz) May 8, 2026
The Lakersā problems with the officiating began early. James could be seen screaming at an official for missing an obvious foul as he made a first-quarter layup.
LeBron gets frustraded after the refs missed a clear and-1 foul on him pic.twitter.com/8aD1I40oeP
ā Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) May 8, 2026
In the fourth quarter, James hit a shot while getting fouled and the official waived off continuation when it looked pretty clear that the bucket should have counted. Lakers coach JJ Reddick couldnāt believe it.
lebron james foul on the floor; lakers vs okc pic.twitter.com/AkQbdDKkWD
ā ā (@F0RGIAT0) May 8, 2026
Reddick got into trouble himself in the first quarter. He was given a technical foul for arguing with the refs during the following exchange:
JJ Reddick technical foul š pic.twitter.com/TSk8BSg0Rt
ā Shabazz š« (@ShowCaseShabazz) May 8, 2026
After the game, Reddick didnāt hold back on what he thought was awful officiating.
"They have a few guys that foul on every possession...there was a stretch where four straight possessions our guys got absolutely clobbered," Reddick said. "They're hard enough to play. You've gotta be able to just call it if they foul. And they do foul."
He added that the officials didnāt help James much.
āWell he gets clobbered on that one with Jaylin Williams coming over trying to block the shot when he spun baseline, that was in that strech as well,ā Reddick said. āLeBron has the worst whistle of any star player Iāve ever seen... he got clobbered again tonight a bunch and thatās not a new thing. He gets fouled a lot and it doesnāt happen.ā
The foul discrepancy didnāt wind up being a big difference. L.A. was called for 26 fouls, while Oklahoma City was whistled for 21. The Thunder also shot more free throws (26 to 21). Opponents and fans have complained for months that the reigning NBA champions have gotten the benefit of far too many calls. On Thursday night, the frustration boiled over for the Lakers, who now head back to Los Angeles down 2-0.
The Thunder dominated the second half of Game 2, outscoring the Lakers 68 to 49 and running away with the game late. Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 22 points each, while Ajay Mitchell added 20, and Jared McCain poured in 18 in as many minutes off the bench.
The Lakers got 31 from Reaves and 23 from James, but couldnāt keep up with Oklahoma City late. L.A.ās offense was bogged down by OKCās excellent defense late and is clearly missing Luka DonÄiÄ, whose timeline for return is still unknown.
The two teams will meet again in Game 3 on Saturday.
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