The Kings had plenty to say in the aftermath of a loss against the vaunted Lakers the other day. Despite being shorthanded in the absence of rotation regulars De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley, and Trevor Ariza, they managed to stay close until the waning seconds of the match. And for all the pressure being brought to bear by the partisan crowd at the Staples Center, they were on the cusp of an upset. Until, that is, the referees called a questionable foul on Harrison Barnes that sent LeBron James to the line for two shots with the score tied and five and a half seconds remaining in regulation. The charities proved to be the difference maker, leading to interesting interviews in which opinions were carefully couched to avoid fines from the league office while still making the displeasure clear.
Certainly, the Kings didn’t lose the game on the whistle of Rodney Mott, who, along with Sean Wright and Natalie Sago, officiated the match. Never mind the glaring 22-to-nine disparity in free throws. And forget that, on the next play, Barnes appeared to have been inadvertently tripped by James as he made his way to the basket, leading to an awkward try to force overtime that a lying-in-wait Anthony Davis had no trouble defending. Still, their sentiments were clear; homecourt advantage coupled with star power tilted the balance of calls in the Lakers’ favor.
Interestingly, the National Basketball Association’s Last Two Minute Report on the set-to validated one of the Kings’ concerns and negated another. It acknowledged that James “extends his elbow into Barnes’s chin before any contact is initiated by Barnes on the perimeter,” and should thus have been charged with an offensive foul. It likewise noted that the contact between the two in the subsequent play was “marginal” and “incidental.” Not that either determination changes the outcome; at best, it promotes speculation on what could have been.
Creditably, the Kings used the experience as fodder for motivation. Yesterday, they hosted the red-hot Celtics, proud owners of a 10-game win streak heading into the Golden 1 Center, and managed to eke out a hard-earned win. Rather than dwell on the wasted chance for victory, they focused on the opportunity before them — and promptly succeeded. As head coach Luke Walton argued, “I don’t care [about the Last Two Minute Report]. I don’t look at it. Our mindset is ‘What’s next? What are we doing next?’” And this time around, they got a whistle that sent Richaun Holmes to the line with 13.3 seconds left to set up a triumph by the slimmest of margins. The call was second-guessed, to be sure, but ultimately upheld following a coach’s challenge.
Moving forward, the Kings are right not to dwell too much on any one win or loss. They may have a 5-7 slate, but they’re moving up in the West standings, seemingly rounding into form after five consecutive setbacks to start the season. There remains a lot of hoops to negotiate, and if there’s anything the outcomes of their two most recent contests showed, it’s that they’re best served dwelling on things they can control, and quickly turning their back on things they can’t.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and Human Resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
