Lakers oust Suns in IST after controversial finish; Huge change for college football?

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THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS AND THE MILWAUKEE BUCKS

The very, very young and very, very successful In-Season Tournament has its first controversial finish. The Lakers defeated the Suns, 106-103, thanks to a terrific LeBron James performance, a cold-blooded Austin Reaves 3-pointer and one very friendly whistle. Here’s how it went down late.

• Reaves nailed a stepback 3-pointer with 15.1 seconds to give Los Angeles a 105-101 lead. Kevin Durant countered with a layup to cut it to 105-103.
• Reaves took the inbounds pass, got bumped by Devin Booker and lost the ball. Still, the referees somehow granted a timeout called by James, even with the ball clearly no longer in Reaves’ possession.
• After a foul, Anthony Davis made one of two free throws, and Durant airballed a last-second 3-pointer. Game over.

James finished with 31 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and five steals. He’s the first Laker with 30/10/5/5 since Magic Johnson in 1987, and he’s the oldest player in NBA history to do it … by nearly 7 years (Walt Frazier did it in 1977 at 32; James is about to turn 39). He may not run quite as fast or jump quite as high as he once did, but he can still dominate a basketball game. Sam Quinn has more on James’ historic performance. The Lakers play the Pelicans for a trip to the final tomorrow night at 9 p.m. ET.

In the East, the Bucks dispatched the Knicks, 146-122 behind a relentless offense. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 35 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists,…