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Lakers 122, Kings 114: Forget the turnovers and poor execution, let’s blame the refs!

The Kings lost and it is definitely somebody else's fault.
By | 35 Comments | Jan 4, 2022

Jan 4, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) shoots the ball against the Sacramento Kings in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers played an ugly yet entertaining game Tuesday night. The fourth quarter saw an insane scoring duel where LeBron James and Buddy Hield traded threes for four straight possessions. We saw LeBron remind us all that he’s quite good at NBA basketball. We saw unforced Kings turnovers and tactical errors in execution and clock management. But forget all that, this loss is strictly to be blamed on the refs for a weird call late in the game!

Let’s break down what happened. The Lakers missed a free throw with 24.8 seconds remaining. De’Aaron Fox didn’t touch the ball, allowing it to bounce on the floor. All other players from both teams had run back to the other end of the floor. The Lakers clock operator started the clock in error. De’Aaron Fox, without ever grabbing the ball to establish possession, instead pointed out the clock error. Since Fox hadn’t officially established possession, it was ruled a jump ball.

Was the call stupid? Yes.
Was it wrong? I dunno, we’ll see what the L2M report says.
Did the Kings waste 7 seconds before fouling on the play that led to the missed free throw? Yes.
What did Fox think he’d gain by allowing the defense more time to get down the floor and get set? I have no idea.

Was that call the reason the Kings lost?

 

Want to look for reasons the Kings lost? How about 17 turnovers compared to just 5 for the Lakers. How about several long scoring droughts where the Kings couldn’t take advantage of Lakers mistakes. How about outlier performances from Malik Monk (24 points) and Talen Horton-Tucker (19 points). How about Gentry continually assigning either Damian Jones or Davion Mitchell to guard LeBron James, instead of trying Harrison Barnes even just once? I suppose those just require a little more introspection than blaming the refs.

It wasn’t all bad, though. This was a fantastic performance from De’Aaron Fox, who finished with 30 points on 12-21 shooting, including 2-4 from beyond the arc. Fox was aggressive, attacked and broke down the Lakers defense, and really looked like the Fox of last season.

Buddy Hield also had a solid game. He did his usual trick of taking shots without a conscience but managed to go 7-13 from deep on his way to 26 points overall.

Tyrese Haliburton had a quiet night overall. He still dished out 9 assists but scored just 7 points and had long stretches where he went passive.

The Kings don’t have long to dwell on this loss. The Kings host the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday night.

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RandyBreuersNeckHair
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January 4, 2022 10:26 pm

It was nice to see Marvin Bagley dominate on both sides of the floor again tonight.

-Kayte H.

BeTheBall
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January 4, 2022 10:30 pm

The H stands for “Huh?”

AnybodyButBagley
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January 5, 2022 7:02 am

At least they stopped referring to him as the second round pick like he was picked last week.

Fourth year of his total ineptitude.

JoeMama
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January 5, 2022 10:05 am

2nd round pick is where he SHOULD HAVE been picked

Jack
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January 5, 2022 7:14 am

Bagley did not dominate on both ends of the floor. He couldn,t make a four or five foot shot to save his life. He has no touch on any of those shots especiallly his hook shots. They are flat as a pancake. He has no arch what so ever. Got 12 rebounds of the other end but can,t score on offense.

dropgate
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January 5, 2022 8:07 am
Reply to  Jack

comment image

RandyBreuersNeckHair
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January 5, 2022 8:29 am
Reply to  dropgate

Haha. Exactly.

BeTheBall
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January 4, 2022 10:26 pm

Blaming the refs for the team’s own incompetence is a staple of Raider fans, no need to be like Raider fans.

RikSmits
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January 4, 2022 10:39 pm

We even stopped mentioning bad defense as a reason for losing, I guess?

It’s kind of a given the last 1.5 season, but still…

RikSmits
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January 4, 2022 11:31 pm
Reply to  Greg

Harsh but fair enough.

Kingsguru21
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January 5, 2022 8:12 am
Reply to  RikSmits

This franchise deserves harsh.

GrandCanyonFunyun
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January 4, 2022 11:10 pm

Great job,team.

TomFoolery
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January 4, 2022 11:13 pm

Putting Damon Jones on Lebron all game is why Gentry gets the big bucks!

PlayoffModeT
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January 5, 2022 8:35 am
Reply to  TomFoolery

Not to mention HB couldn’t guard Westbrook to save his life. He should have at least tried Jones or Harkless on Westbrook because of length.

Also, in pre-game, he stated we’re going to play to our identity (starts big w/Bagley) and proceeds to go small in the crunch time.. NICE

sonny
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January 4, 2022 11:17 pm

I still blame Vivek. Now and forever.
We need a vivectomy.

Add foxotomy, hieldectomy and marvinectomy as added procedures.

rockbottom
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January 4, 2022 11:27 pm

The call was correct ! Blame the Kings and Fox ! Pick up the damn ball ! Duh ! Also, was anyone surprised that Jones could not guard James ? Asking for my Junior high coaching Buddy !

KangzofLeon
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January 4, 2022 11:31 pm
Reply to  rockbottom

agree but also want to just note that we don’t have anyone that can guard the goat

RikSmits
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January 4, 2022 11:33 pm
Reply to  KangzofLeon

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Brown.says.Good.or.Bad
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January 5, 2022 2:09 am

At least Trevor Ariza is also bad for the Lakers

Ralph_Furleys_Tailor
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January 5, 2022 2:27 am

My Goodness I love Hali, but his defense tonight was just awful.

Why does Fox have such a fetish with the whole clock fake out thing? Seriously! What exactly is the benefit? He is the fastest player in the league with the ball…perhaps he should start playing like it.

Marvin off the glass has got to be shooting 20% on his career.

83% of all Buddy goes off games are still losses

Damien Jones tries hard

Fox is Fox and it’s an uptown version of Buddy

Barnes wasn’t on Bron because coach had clearly planned on Metu throwing a blanket on him

I hope Barnes gets traded soon ( he deserves it)

The roster, GM, and owner are all suspect. I tune in to be entertained. I read/post here to be entertained.

KD please take your AB back to MA or GTFO you are the kings announcer now

DutchKingsFanInUK
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January 5, 2022 6:26 am

My brain went to the words ‘winnable game’, but can we really expect to win games with this type of defense? Absolutely atrocious.

HongKongKingsFan
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January 5, 2022 6:26 am

Don’t get fooled by the scoreboard.

I can ensure that Bagley got at least 5 turnovers……and his turnover are killing the momentum..as all are unforced…and I still don’t understand why Gentry kept playing him..
comment imagecomment image

And he got two Butter-Fingers, and cannot handle the pass, and let the ball slipped out of bound…….

Not to mention his poor defense….his BBIQ is low…….

I just don’t want to see him again…….. 

JoeMama
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January 5, 2022 8:34 am

I swear everyone single game baguettly plays he gets stripped. Every single game.

AnybodyButBagley
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January 5, 2022 7:01 am

Nothing surprising.

Barnes deserves to be on a different team. Too good of a player to be stuck with this group.

Adamsite
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Nostradumbass 14
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Nostradumbass 14
January 5, 2022 7:30 am

He’d be fantastic for the contending Bulls, and they have the assets to get him.

AnybodyButBagley
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January 5, 2022 8:28 am
Reply to  Adamsite

One day something will happen…….

JoeMama
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January 5, 2022 8:35 am

Yeah. Just wait another 15 months

Bill2455
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January 5, 2022 7:31 am

You have to admit the Kings do have really creative ways to look like boneheads in another loss. That sort of creativity should be rewarded. Perhaps a J R Smith award?

TerzoM
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January 5, 2022 8:09 am

10th spot is the target for 21-22, no higher; no lowercomment image
This is my command to players, coaches, GM and referees

Last edited 2 years ago by TerzoM
JoeMama
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January 5, 2022 8:38 am

2 things:

1) why the hell is Marvin bagels guarding lebron?

2) lebron got super excited to make a layup (after being down most of the quarter) and looks at the kings bench with such an ugly face. Almost wish somebody would step up and punch him.

Jack
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January 5, 2022 8:48 am
Reply to  JoeMama

I agree. James is the biggest prima donna in basketball.

JoeMama
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January 5, 2022 10:06 am
Reply to  Jack

He argues with the officials on damn near every call too

unfairweather
January 5, 2022 2:39 pm
Reply to  JoeMama

All top players do that and should… Because It Works.

JoeMama
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January 5, 2022 6:27 pm
Reply to  unfairweather

Thanks for the update Demarcus

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