Austin Reaves demands respect from NBA officials following a frustrating defeat originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Austin Reaves scored a game-high 31 points for the Los Angeles Lakers in their 125-107 Game 2 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday night.
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His performance was the one bright spot. His night was also marked by two visible clashes with officials, one of which he addressed pointedly in his postgame session.
“I felt like I was respectful to all of them all night and there’s a million times in the past I’ve said way worse stuff. And when we were doing the whole tip ball when they were switching spots, I wanted to get on the other side because they had a guy who was just trying to keep an advantage… and he turned around, yelled in my face. Just thought it was disrespectful.”
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He also directed his frustration specifically at crew chief John Goble, saying Goble’s reaction to a positioning dispute during a jump ball crossed a line.
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“At the end of the day, we’re grown men and I didn’t feel like he needed to yell in my face like that. I told him that. I wasn’t disrespectful. I told him if I did that to him first, I would have got a tech.”
Reaves, Marcus Smart and Jaxson Hayes all fouled out with six fouls. After the game, LeBron James and several other Lakers players gathered at midcourt to voice their frustrations directly to the officiating crew.
The Lakers now trail 0-2 with Game 3 Saturday in Los Angeles. Reaves’ 31-point effort was a better showing from Game 1, where he only scored eight points, so his recent performance shows he’s capable of carrying the team offensively.
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Whether they can channel that frustration into a win at home is the more pressing question.
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