Winners after an extension of their trip to the Pacers, the Lakers left for Los Angeles with a smile on their face. However, they could have shot a grim face, since the league hinted that this success could potentially have turned into defeat!
In general, it’s not ideal for a back-to-back team to go into grueling overtime on the second night. After their loss to the Knicks the day before, the Lakers were unable to get rid of the Pacers during regulation time. Blame it on the ultimate badly managed possessions, but especially the big clutch shot scored by Indiana rookie, Chris Duarte.
CHRIS DUARTE SENDS IT TO OVERTIME ???? pic.twitter.com/5Tj52b2aBT
– SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 25, 2021
The Pacers cheated against the Lakers according to the league
This shoot will not have ultimately had any consequences on the outcome of the meeting, since it is the Angelinos who got the best of their opponents in overtime, thanks to a heroic LeBron James. However, the King and his teammates actually shouldn’t even have been given a second chance to win. This is what the league revealed in their post-match report, claiming that Duarte should have got a match point!
The NBA says Avery Bradley fouled Chris Duarte on the rookie’s game-tying basket. The Lakers were just a whistle (and a FT) away from a 1-4 roadie pic.twitter.com/ZHOfN1Fk4F
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) November 25, 2021
The NBA says Avery Bradley fouled Chris Duarte in the rookie’s tying basket. The Lakers were just one whistle (and one free throw) away from finishing their road trip with a 1-4 record.
“Bradley (LAL) throws himself in the air towards Duarte (IND) before making contact with Duarte’s body during his upward movement to shoot. “
This 3-point shot could therefore have turned into 3 + 1, and the fate of the game would have been placed in Duarte’s hands. Of course, the hypothesis of seeing the latter miss his bonus throw remained quite possible, since it only turns 66.7% in the exercise this season, and remained on 2 failures in 2 attempts on the match. The young Dominican can still have it bad, despite the praise he received from his prestigious rivals.
Except for an unblocked foul, the Lakers could have spent Thanksgiving in a much more dreary way. In any case, they know who to thank when it comes to carving the turkey on Thursday!
