Warriors' Steve Kerr denounces shot-clock glitches, coach's challenges as Lakers game grinds to halt: "Replay just for buzzer-beaters"
First, LeBron James conveyed his frustration by slamming the basketball. After all, he'd been putting on a vintage show against the Warriors on primetime.
Then, the Los Angeles Lakers’ 39-year-old star showed his annoyance by approaching the announcer’s table and yelling, “I’m too old for this!!” James threw in an expletive for good measure.
James didn’t just look upset over the Lakers’ 128-121 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena, a game that surely will have implications in the playoff and Play-In seedings race. James didn’t just appear stressed over wasting a 40-point performance while Anthony Davis missed the entire second half with an eye contusion.
James displayed his impatience with the shot clock malfunctioning on three consecutive possessions. This happened after the officials reviewed three consecutive plays on two challenge calls, a span that took over 5 minutes to figure out.
“Obviously, it messes with the rhythm. But at the end of the day, you want to get it right,” James said. “It’s unfortunate what happened. But you want to try to get it right, obviously. Our crew has a job to do, which is the referees. They have a job to do the best they can. So all good.”
Ironically, the Warriors (35-31) hardly felt that way even after securing a win that gives them an edge for ninth place in the Western Conference standings over the Lakers (36-32) with a 2-1 lead in the regular-season series.
“I’m not a fan of replay. I think we should have replay just for the buzzer beaters,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “The whole goal with replay is to try to get everything right. There’s 100 plays at each end every night that are subjective. It’s not a game. It’s not tennis. It’s not a Hawk-Eye on whether it’s in or out. There’s all kinds of subjective stuff. We’re never going to get everything right. But I think the flow of the game is way more important.”
How did the primetime Warriors-Lakers game turn into a mess?
The Warriors-Lakers game originally had everything needed to ensure a well-flowed game.
James drew applause as he drove to the basket with aggression en route to 40 points while shooting 15-for-23 overall and 3-for-5 from 3-point range. So did Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who added 31 points while shooting 12-for-24 from the field after missing the previous three games with a sprained left ankle.
Warriors guard Klay Thompson embraced his new role as a secondary scorer (26 points). After missing Thursday’s game with back spasms, Draymond Green offered defensive intensity and a few lob passes to third-year forward Jonathan Kuminga (23 points). And with the NBA calling for officials to become more conservative whistle in favor of physical player, the Warriors (18) and Lakers (15) didn’t spend much time at the free-throw line.
In the final two minutes of the game, the nationally televised Lakers-Warriors game morphed from must-see TV to a product that should make the NBA feel embarrassed.
After James made what appeared to be a baseline 3-pointer to cut the Warriors’ lead to 124-120 with 2:07 left, Curry tried to answer with his own trey. After his shot hit back iron, Lakers forward Jaxson Hayes and Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins fought over the rebound. The officials initially ruled the ball went off the Lakers, prompting them to challenge the call.
While reviewing that call, officials determined that James' left foot stepped out-of-bounds before his 3-point attempt. Though the Lakers won the challenge and maintained possession off a jump ball, officials docked James’ 3-pointer off their score, leaving it at 124-117.
“I’ve never seen that be called before like that in that particular time,” James said. “That was kind of weird. But yeah it took some momentum away from us.”
Crew chief David Guthrie told a pool reporter that officials were able to review the play, regardless of whether the Lakers challenged the rebounding call.
“I want to see that rule go away,” Kerr said. “I think we’re trying to get everything just right, but at the expense of the flow. Who cares if a guy’s foot is half an inch [out of bounds]. Is that worth going back 45 seconds and changing everything with the unintended consequences? It’s not my favorite rule.”
More challenges and lengthy reviews awaited.
The shot clock experienced issues even before the end of the game. When the Warriors maintained possession from 11:06 to 10:38 in the fourth quarter, the shot clock reset to 24 seconds. Guthrie later told a pool reporter that a shot clock malfunction is not reviewable and that the officiating crew should recognize the error in real-time.
Things worsened during crunch time. After Wiggins won the jump ball, Green tried to retain possession. But the Lakers issued another coach’s challenge after believing Green stepped out-of-bounds with 1:48 left.
The Lakers won that challenge, but the game soon spiraled out of control. Officials stopped play after the Lakers inbounded the ball in four consecutive instances because of a shot clock malfunction. Each play elicited stronger boos. Celebrities Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez showed their annoyance from their court-side seats.
While the lengthy reviews and shot-clock issues persisted, both the Lakers and Warriors players kept stretching and stayed warmed-up in hopes of maintaining game flow. All of the players appeared increasingly agitated.
“It’s hard. Guys stiffen up real quick after playing at such high intensity,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. "And it throws off the rhythm of the game. But it’s out of anybody’s control when the computer malfunctions.”
Both teams expressed some understanding around the shot-clock glitches. Not so much with the lengthy reviews, though.
“I’ve always wanted to know what’s the conversation when they put the headphones on and who are they talking to and what’s the back and forth,” Curry said. “Once you have a good read on whether the call should be overturned or not, just sticking with your gut on that.”
Curry didn’t endorse Kerr’s call to abolish reviews with exception to game-winning plays. Curry just wished officials could become more decisive. After all, players and coaches don’t have the luxury to deliberate.
“There are calls that you need it that can dictate a momentum swing or a crucial two points,” Curry said. “Especially when you get the challenge right, having another one just in case there is something down the stretch. It might be more about making it quicker than taking it away.”
Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.