The famous franchise, without its best player Luka Dončić, lost in the semifinals of the Western Conference playoffs of the strongest league - NBA, to the current champion Oklahoma City 2:0. Lakers coach JJ Redick believes that the only reason for the defeats is not the absence of the great Slovenian basketball player.
Last night, the Lakers suffered their second loss in the series against Oklahoma City - 107:125, down 0-2 in the series.
"I sarcastically said the other day that they are the deadliest defense that operates without fouls. The Thunder have a few players who literally foul on every possession, and that's what any good defense does. But look, Shai Gilges-Alexander (SGA) gets fouled for touching during the offense, and there was a period when my players, on four consecutive possessions, were literally knocked down when they tried to pass to Jackson Hayes - Jaylen Williams pulled his jersey with both hands without punishment," Redick was angry and told the referees:
"Play, even when they foul, because it's complicated to play against them anyway, and they're still forgiven for fouls."
The controversy surrounding Oklahoma's judging criteria has long gone viral in the form of memes on social media, but Thunder center Tyrese Halliburton believes that all the "fuss" surrounding his team's superstar, SGA, has been exaggerated...
"It's all exaggerated, stop it, bro! Seriously, it's exaggerated, there's a lot of nuance... Calling fouls is part of the game, part of basketball. He doesn't do it all the time. A lot of times people get angry and yell, 'He's acting!' But when an opponent fouls him, he says, 'Damn it.' He knows he broke the rules... You can't touch the best players, you can't go hard on them, because they're so good that they'll "sell" that contact," explained Haliberton.
In these playoffs, Gilges-Alexander is third in the number of free throws made (10,2 on average), behind Paolo Bunker (10,6) and Cade Cunningham (10,3).
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