The Warriors are spooked by the officials when playing the Lakers because this goes way back…to April 12, 2013

Last night, the Warriors were seemingly in control of the game, playing their brand of basketball, when all hell broke loose. The team started overreacting to calls that any home team, especially the Lakers, are expected to get in the playoffs. Instead of playing through it, something the veteran Warriors have done countless times in the playoffs (including the Sacramento series) they completely unraveled. The Warriors, despite all their success over the years, have always struggled playing the Lakers in LA. They are 9-13 including the play in game and playoff game last night. If the Warriors were the big brothers against Sacramento, where Sacramento, facing the mystique of a championship team with pedigree, was the team that unraveled in the heat of the moment then the Lakers are the big brother in this series, which as a franchise has owned the Warriors forever.

A case in point is a game ten years ago that any Warrior fan will remember. The Lakers, with Kobe Bryant, were facing the upstart Warriors in a game they desperately needed to make the playoffs. The Warriors were 45-34 and the Lakers were 42-37. The Warriors were a shoe-in for the playoffs despite the two teams similar records and came to LA looking to knock the Lakers (big brother) out of playoff contention. Much like this year’s Laker team, that Laker team had gotten an atrocious number of free throws and foul calls in the latter part of the season, a part of league’s unabashed effort to ensure Kobe got into the playoffs. It was just as disgusting then as it is now.

Enter the upstart Warriors, coached by Mark Jackson, looking to give the Lakers a death blow and make a name for themselves by taking Kobe’s scalp. I watched that game on TV and two quarters into the game everyone, including Warriors coaches and players (Curry, Thompson, etc) knew the refs would not allow them to win that game. They just kept looking at each other, shaking their heads as if to say, “can you believe they are blatantly doing us like this, rigging the game, with everyone watching?” Phantom call after phantom call was called on the Warriors, to the point that even the tv announcers were incredulous. The Warriors got up 30 more shots than the Lakers! 97 shots to 66 for the Lakers. But the Lakers shot 50 free throws in the game to the Warriors 16!! The Lakers made 38 out of 50 and Warriors 13-16. Despite all the effort by the refs, the Warriors nearly won, that’s how good they were playing. Curry had 47 and the final score was 116-118. The Lakers final three points to win the game were all free throws, after Thompson hit a 3 to put the Warriors up 116-115.

In the irony of all ironies, that’s also the game in which Kobe tore his achilles in the 4th quarter! So even though the refs helped the Lakers make the playoffs, it was all for naught!

Who knows, maybe the basketball gods will reward this year’s Laker team, and the league backing them, in the same way. 

Btw,

The lead official in that game, Monty McCutchen, is now the NBA’s senior vice president of referee development and training.

After the missed call on LBJ in Boston:

McCutchen understands James’s frustration. The Lakers are working to claw their way into the playoff race, and every game counts. And for James, who the NBA also admitted was fouled at the end of regulation in the closing moments of a double-overtime loss to Dallas, it has been an especially difficult stretch. McCutchen says he is confident the issue that led to the missed call in Boston can be corrected and that referees will work tirelessly to be in the best position to get every call right.

It really is impactful to referees to miss calls,” says McCutchen. “They’re not flippant about it. They don’t leave with a lack of remorse. But you have to move on. You have to get to the next game. That doesn’t help the teams that were aggrieved. We understand that. But we have to continue to pursue excellent work even up against our imperfections. That way you turn one call and you sort of nip it right there instead of turning it into a progression of bad calls.”

You're reaching Scal

It's really about January 29th when the NBA apologized to the Lakers for the Boston game the day before..

Lakers FT differential pre and post Refs apology to them on January 29th..

Before 2.96 per game 

After 9.175 per game 

The Lakers since January 29th have not lost the Free Throw battle by more than 5 Free Throws in a game since..

Good info. What a difference a play makes, 24 little hours later, the script flips. 

BB the league didn’t expect Curry and the Warriors to win and really steal last years title from the Celtics. NBA was not happy, nor was Lebron. Curry with title #4? In the Lebron era ? 

The Warriors have a .01% chance of winning this series. It will not happen.

@ActionMagnet

 It is amazing how delusional fandom can effect gamblers. So i am live at the sportsbook last night 90% laker fans and at end of quarter one half of them tried to bet warriors live or at the half. The warriors fans there were 10000 percent worse. Every chance to bet warriors live they did even while watching a team with no chance give no effort. All to say any time you see someone who is a fan of there team justify a bet on their team with 0 justification fade that fool. Scal wants so bad to believ in his team. But they are 11–34 on the road and getting badly outcoached and outefforted and have to overcome the fact one of their stars punched a kid in the face and all the other kids give two shots about this team

FANDOM is a GAMBLiNG disease. If you want to gamble quit cheering on the team tour sad taught you to care about because he just needed time away from your mom.

He is right the NBA loves this matchup fucking kidding me they show  all the stars at the game in LA then they show the beautiful San Francisco and some of the celebrities and all the fucking techie billionaires this series is going seven and then of course they want the crybaby LeBron and his legacy and the Lakers the refs will control game seven in the Lakers will win he’s right this is all fucking scripted

You have some of the worst takes of anybody on this forum.

Warriors are 6-4 their last 10 road games (2-3 in the playoffs so far). No idea why you keep bringing up that meaningless regular season stat.

Jordan Poole isn't a kid!  He's supposed to be a man, but obviously that isn't the case.  Let's compromise... he's a fucking baby!

FFS some dude named Vandeervilt attempted more FT’s in game 3 than Steph Curry. As did the legend Austin Reeves. GTFOOH u crooked fux

Just an excuse for if/when the Warriors lose 

BB I had a thought.. Lakers win game four and go up 3-1 in the series.. The dreaded 3-1 series lead with game 5 back at Oracle.. You better win game 6 in LA or Steph will have some sweet revenge on his mind..

Yes excuse than Austin Reeves is averaging more FT attempts than Steph. It’s an excuse.

Hot take. This series ends in 5. 

To take this a step further... two trends suggest that a 3-1 series lead wouldn't be so safe for the Lakers.

(1) The Warriors have won at least 1 road game in 28-straight playoff series.

(2) The last 9 times the Warriors lost 2 games in a row, they won the next game in 8 of those, and the next two games in 5 out of 7 (the other two ended after 1 game).

Down 3-1 (having lost 2 straight), the Warriors are 8-1 in the next game in that situation, dating back to the 2015 playoffs. They would be playing game 5 at Oracle, and I'd say they should be prohibitive favorites in that situation.

If they win, they would be going back to LA for their 3rd and final chance to extend their record streak to 29-straight series with a road win in the playoffs... while also being in the 2nd game after 2-straight losses (5-2 in that situation).

Seems like there is a pretty good chance we'll be seeing a game 7 in this series, one way or another.

If they lose tonight, you gotta hammer them in game 5 no matter the line. That’s all I can tell you from a gambling perspective. Too much money to be made with a game 6.