[ESPiN: Lakers Frustrated at Refs Resort to Hands Free D

nope. not giving bspn any clicks. just paste it here.

 

its funny, but true. This is a stars league as always....When barkley played for the suns i literally hated him because everytime someone touched him on the block a foul was called, when they were clearly just putting their hands on them ( i didn't see it as a foul). And then when he cane to the rockets, i absolutely loved him! cuz he would go to the line all the time! if harden was on the mavs, i would totally hate him! lol

lebron gets the same treatment, so its equal.

 

They do it in soccer to avoid a hand foul in the penalty area.

 

HOUSTON -- The Los Angeles Lakersfound themselves so frustrated by the officiating in the second half of Thursday's 126-111 loss to the Houston Rockets that several players, LeBron James and Lonzo Ball among them, purposely held their hands behind their backs on a series of defensive possessions to make a point to the referees.

"Just trying to defend without fouling," James said, who briefly locked his hands behind his body on a Rockets possession in the third quarter. "That's a point of emphasis anytime you play Houston. They got guys that can sell calls really good -- Chris [Paul] and James [Harden] -- so you got to try to keep your hands out of the cookie jar."

The Rockets were called for more fouls than the Lakers overall (24-21), but Houston took more free throws (32-27), led by Harden's 18-for-19 night and Paul's 5-for-6 showing from the stripe. In the teams' previous meeting, a 124-115 Houston win on Oct. 20, Harden went 11-for-15 on free throws and Paul went 7-for-9.

Harden came into the game ranked second in the league with 9.4 free throw attempts per game, and he doubled that output against the Lakers en route to a 50-point triple-double, adding 11 assists and 10 rebounds.

"You can't touch them," Ball said, expressing extra indignation at the two times Josh Hart was called for a foul while Harden was attempting a 3-pointer.

"I was just trying not to foul today," he continued. "They were calling it tight today, so I was just trying to get my hands out of there. ... It's very tough staying in front of [Harden] with your hands like that."

Lakers coach Luke Walton and Kyle Kuzma were both called for technical fouls on the night, and Walton admitted his team lost its cool.

"Whether I was frustrated with some calls, or Harden making some shots, I thought we could've done a better job of keeping our composure as a group," Walton said. "I think that's a great learning experience for us as we try to prep for becoming a type of team that can win toward the end of the year. We have to be able to succeed in tough environments and when things aren't going in our favor. And the only way to learn how to do that is to go through it. And I thought tonight was an example that we could've done things better."

Walton said it was not part of his game plan to have his players conceal their arms on the defensive end.

"How hard is it to play defense like that? It's tough," Walton said. "I think they were just trying to make a point: 'We're not using our arms here. Stop calling fouls.' But we can't, whether we get frustrated or not, we can't let that affect us going under screens or us not communicating ... which I thought we could've done a better job of tonight."

Kuzma noted that he didn't see his 3-pointer with 9.9 seconds remaining in the third quarter go in because he was "knocked down." No foul was called, prompting Walton to get on the officials and earn his tech.

To Kuzma, the discrepancy was obvious.

"To defend them, you just can't touch them," Kuzma said. "So just trying not to touch them."

And what about the no-call when he got knocked down?

"To save my money, I don't know about that one," he said. "It's going to happen, especially on the road. My college coach always used to say, especially on road games, you're playing 16,000-18,000 on 15. So it's going to happen on the road."

L.A. trailed Houston 90-88 heading into the fourth quarter and was outscored 36-23 in the final frame. Harden went 5-for-5 from the line in the fourth, while the Lakers attempted zero free throws as a team.

 

LeBron does not get the same treatment. He gets the shaq treatment. He gets fouled a lot and he doesn't get it called cause he is big and strong. He does get the benefit when he barrels into someone and doesn't get an offensive foul or when he plays aggressive d. So I guess they get evened out.

 

I guess those threes Harden nailed are because he drew a foul. Lol

 

Lol. Rockets called for more fouls and only outshot them from the line by a few.

Meanwhile NeNe is getting bulldozed and thrown out of the game.

 

Lakers sure are whiny for a group (outside of James) that hasn’t done anything.

 

This would be hilarious if we were seeded at #1

 

I dun know what the Lakers envisioned themselves to become but if they want to be a great team, a trick or two have to be learned from the Houston side.

 

Rockets FTA: 32. Lakers FTA: 28

But sure, foul disparity was the big story. Not the Lakers inability to make their foul shots or their 3-pointers.

 

Weird. I felt like the Lakers shot a ton of free throws on weak calls as well. They just missed them. Terribly officiated game on both sides imo but the refs didn't decide who won. Harden did with the clutch plays down the stretch.

 

I swear, I see people btching on facebook and reddit about Houston getting help from the refs, the free throw disparity isn't even that big to be btching so hard.

 

here we go...

instead of the focus being on how Harden just dropped a 50 point triple double and closed the game out in the 4th with incredible shot making, it will be on Harden drawing fouls...

the Lakers have no one that can even come close to making Harden’s life difficult...there is a reason he always kills them

when u can’t guard somebody at all, u tend to be prone to fouling them a lot because it’s your only hope

dudes are constantly hitting Harden’s arm on threes or not giving him space to land which the referees see and call, and they are constantly reaching in on his drives which the refs see as well and will call

stop crying...

 

Yeah, the newly constructed Lakers are a good matchup. They need Anthony Davis in the worst way or Kawhi in top shape though.

 

In my day, guys were wearing rope gloves dipped in glue and broken glass like in Kickboxer and they were allowed 3 free kidney shots every time you turned around. If you faced up it was a doc marten to the crotch.

- Kenneth Smith

 

Capela was defending like this since last year. Anytime a center was posting him up he’d put a hand behind his back

 

If you play for the Lakers you deserve whatever you get.

 

What I don't understand is the fact it wasn't their hand checking that got the majority of their calls. But it was the shot contesting / closing out under Hardens feet that got them most of the shooting fouls. Overall it seems like the Lakers wanted the refs to allow them to ZaZa harden, because that's where most of the shooting fouls and free throw attempts occured. Makes a no sense.