The Los Angeles Lakers have now lost three games in a row after dropping Sunday night’s contest to the Philadelphia 76ers, 113-112.
The decisive play came at the end of the fourth quarter when, with the Lakers down by one point, Russell Westbrook looked to attack against Joel Embiid, only to have his game-winning attempt blocked by forward Georges Niang.
After the game, Westbrook said Embiid held his arm prior to his botched shot attempt, and replays and screenshots seemed to confirm his claim.
But on Monday, the NBA’s Last Two Minutes Report on the contest upheld the decision to not call a foul on that action.
The NBA’s L2M report says that Russ was not fouled on the final possession:
“Embiid (PHI) slightly extends his arm before retracting it and marginal arm contact occurs with Westbrook (LAL) during the driving shot attempt.”
— Daniel Starkand (@DStarkand) January 16, 2023
After L.A.’s last loss, which came against the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday, the team was also crying foul about two supposed non-calls, one at the end of regulation and the other at the end of the first overtime. The next day, the league upheld the first non-call but said the second one should’ve been a foul on Christian Wood.
Regardless of whether the referees made the right decisions on these plays, the Lakers simply need to start winning games in bunches again to at least give themselves a real shot at returning to the playoffs.
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