The Los Angeles Lakers dealt with multiple issues at once in the 123-120 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday.
L.A. played the last game before the All-Star weekend without LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol and Alex Caruso, approaching the tip-off with a lineup that had never started a game before.
In addition, the Lakers believed some of the calls unfairly went against them in the crucial moments of the clash. Head coach Frank Vogel said the franchise reached out to the NBA regarding Buddy Hield’s 3-pointer in the second quarter that, he argued, should have been counted as a two.
In addition, Montrezl Harrell was baffled by the technical foul he was given for shouting “And-1” following his layup on Richaun Holmes early in the same period. “The tech that I got was definitely a big momentum swinger and definitely shouldn’t have been called because in that instance, I was not looking at her, I was nowhere near her vicinity,” he said.
“I’m running back on defense and what I said was ‘and-one.’”
Harrell pointed out he didn’t use profanity and suggested referee Jenna Schroeder T-ed him up because of a previous exchange on the floor. “Whether me and whatever ref got into it in a verbal conversation from the play before, just because you’re still holding a grudge from that, you cannot come back and give me a tech,” the forward argued.
He also said: “[We] cannot be calling the game that soft.”
Harrell had a monster performance against the Kings, scoring 26 points and adding 12 rebounds off the bench. The 27-year-old said he didn’t let the incident impact his passion and tenacity and assured he had no intentions of doing so in the future. “If I’m gonna get a tech for saying ‘and-one’ then they might as well just kick me out for the whole year because I’ve said way worse than that and haven’t been given a tech,” he said.
“So it is what it is, I can’t control that, I’m gonna keep playing with the same passion that I do. I didn’t stop talking throughout the rest of the game, I kept playing with the same fire and same mode that I had all game so it is what it is.”
Vogel: Lakers ‘hurt’ by Kings loss
The Lakers entered the eight-day break having lost seven out of their last 10 games. The absences of L.A.’s stars and key rotation players partly defends the latest defeat against Sacramento. But nevertheless, Vogel said the Lakers were “hurting” after the loss. “They competed their tails off,” he said.
“They fought hard enough to get a win and the ball bounces on the rim three times, with the game on the line we have a couple putbacks that were there, just weren’t able to close it out.
Our guys wanted to win this game very badly and they’re disappointed.”
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