Davis hits out at Celtics arbitration: ‘They robbed us, that’s m@l@kies’

The Lakers… cook. LeBron James’ no-call on a late-rule foul by Jayson Tatum en route to a 125-121 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics infuriated the team’s players, with Anthony Davis saying things about umpires that are guaranteed … be fined NBA.

“Tatum fouled him. He fouled him. Clearly. Clearly. These are women” Davis initially stated after the fight and continued in the same vein: “This is unacceptable. And I guarantee you, nothing will happen to the referees. We got ripped off today, honestly. It was a blatant foul… It’s unacceptable to be honest. The referees were bad. You were bad today.”

The Lakers generally complain about how they were treated, with one of their arguments – aside from the foul not being called in the finals – being the fact that the shots went 39-20 in the Celtics’ favour. However, LeBron went further and not only stayed in the game against the Celtics but also in the final games decided by refereeing decisions. Like the Mavericks weeks ago, when the NBA admitted there were 7 (!) foul calls at critical points in the game, culminating – once again – in a no-call on a LeBron layup at the end of regulation.

“I dont understand whats going on. I watch basketball every day. It all took so long to build up. You’ve all seen the games we’ve lost due to missed whistles.” LeBron initially came forward, only to add, “We had a chance to win the game, just like we did against the Mavericks two weeks ago when we didn’t get fouled. With the Kings, we didn’t get fouled on Nunn and had an opportunity to level the game.

I don’t understand what we’re doing. I watch basketball every day. I watch games every day. I don’t see that with any other team. It is strange”.

Lakers coach Darwin Hamm also did not hide his irritation and said in his statements:As much as one doesn’t want to blame the referees, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to do so. He’s the best player in the world (aka LeBron) and he can’t win a whistle. Because he plays with power and doesn’t play or yell when he shoots, he gets punished for it. I’ve seen that with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Shaquille O’Neal in the past. I don’t want to see another two-minute report from the NBA. You can keep that to yourself. It’s not good for us and we have to focus on what we can control.”