NBA
Kevin Durant believes Lakers will conquer the In-Season Tournament: ‘It’s set up for them to win’
There has been no lack of excitement in the In-Season Tournament’s quarterfinal clashes this week, as the Lakers recently beat the Suns after a very controversial end of the match. Despite the polemic, Kevin Durant doesn’t want to blame anyone for the defeat and actually wishes the Los Angeles squad the best in their title run.
With only seconds left to the final buzzer, NBA officials granted Austin Reaves a timeout as he was falling to the ground and Phoenix was in the middle of stealing the ball and tying the contest.
Despite the discussions that came after the controversial decision from the referees, the Suns superstar believes the Los Angeles squad have what it takes to lift the first-ever NBA cup trophy.
Kevin Durant believes the Lakers are set up to win the NBA In-Season Tournament. ๐ pic.twitter.com/YX9BsuAmIN
— theScore (@theScore) December 6, 2023
However, the press wanted answers after the polemic timeout, and LeBron James was the first to show his face.ย โI was able to hit AR. And I felt [Devin Booker] kind of pushed up on a little bit, kind of made AR stumble,โย he explained after the match. โAs soon as I seen AR start to stumble a little bit, I started to make the notion and the voice to the referee that was closest to me for a timeout.โ
โAfter that โฆ I heard the commotion. The ball was loose, whatever the case may be,โ he added. โBut my direction was right towards the referee to get us a timeout for sure.โ
Devin Booker, who ended the game with 21 points, took his opinions to social media and shared a video that showed the sequence before the timeout was called. When attending the press, the Suns guard was very outspoken about his displeasure.
โThe whole world seen it,โ he claimed. โI just got off social media and other players around the league seen it. So it is what it is. Refs miss calls sometimes. But when theyโre a bit that obvious itโs tough.โ
Both coaches shared opposite views on the referee’s decision and discussed openly in the postgame interviews
The first to defend his team and voice his opinion was Phoenix head coachย Frank Vogel, who was very clear on why the NBA officials frustrated him.ย He wondered why the referees decided not to take another look at the play in real time.
โI mean itโs a loose ball, and the ballโs out, and they call timeout on loose ball,โ claimed the Suns trainer. โYou canโt call timeout on loose ball. Canโt do it. โฆ Everything in the league is reviewable. I donโt know why that canโt be reviewable โฆ extremely disappointed.โ
In the video above, take a look at the controversial call and judge it yourselves. Lakers coach Darvin Ham, on one side, strongly believes the officials made the right decision and explained the sequence of what went down.
โThatโs why we have three officials and thatโs why I coach: to be in that type of position,โ the L.A. trainer explained. โRight when they were about to dislodge the ball, we [Ham and James] both were trying to call it, and Tom Washington was standing right there. So he granted the timeout, and thatโs pretty much it from my vantage point.โ