Lakers' Luke Walton Fined $15,000 for Criticizing Officials After Loss vs. Spurs
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton was fined $15,000 by the NBA after criticizing the officials on Monday night after the team's 143-142 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Walton, citing the Spurs reaching the foul line more times than the Lakers (38-26) despite the Lakers repeatedly attacking the paint and getting to the rim, said in his postgame comments that "I was going to save my money, but I just can't anymore" before ripping the officiating, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com.
He continued:
"Watch how Josh Hart plays this game. He played 40 minutes tonight. All he does is attack the rim. Zero free throws tonight. Zero. So to me, it doesn't matter. I know they're young, I get that. But if we are going to play a certain way, let's not reward people for flopping 30 feet from the hole on plays that have nothing to do with that possession. They're just flopping just to see if they get a foul call. And then not reward players that are physically going to the basket and getting hit. It's not right."
JaVale McGee agreed with his head coach, though he seemed slightly more concerned about the possibility of getting fined.
"I don't want to lose money," he said. "Whatever [Walton] said, I cosign it. Does that mean I lose money? Hope not."
As Youngmisuk noted, the Lakers have been struggling to adjust to the league's new points of emphasis this season on a desire to lessen "arm wraps, grabbing and dislodging by both offensive and defensive players."
LeBron James weighed in on the team's adjustment period to those rules.
"We're trying to figure it out," he said. "But every time we're on the defensive end, especially in the third quarter, we just kept putting them to the free-throw line. But we got to try to figure that out because it's just giving teams too many easy opportunities to just go up there and knock down free throws."
The Lakers' frustration also came to a boiling point over the weekend, when the team felt that Houston's James Ennis III should have received more than a flagrant-1 foul after he clotheslined Hart on a fast break. Brandon Ingram later received a technical for shoving James Harden after initially fouling him and taking exception to Harden advocating for a call before angrily getting in the official's face.
Moments later, a fight broke out between Rajon Rondo and Chris Paul.
L.A.'s frustrations with the officials have likely been exacerbated by its 0-3 start to the 2018-19 season, though the young Lakers have had a tough slate thus far, facing three playoff teams from a season ago in Portland, Houston and San Antonio.
They've shot 24.3 free throws per game, tied for 14th in the NBA. Their three opponents have shot an average of 32.2 free throws per game, which would almost tie with the Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards for most in the NBA.
The Lakers may have some gripes regarding how they're being officiated, but clearly the team needs to also make some adjustments on the defensive end.
