Just as he sat at the interview table, Phoenix Suns coach Frank Vogel looked agitated for reasons beyond the 106-103 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of NBA’s In-Season Tournament.
Vogel’s frustration also stemmed from the officials granting the Los Angeles Lakers a timeout while guard Austin Reaves struggled to keep possession of the ball. With the Suns’ Devin Booker and Kevin Durant trapping Reaves in hopes of forcing a turnover, LeBron James called timeout while the Lakers nursed a 107-104 lead with 7.4 seconds left.
Related: NBA In-Season Tournament Ratings
“It’s a loose ball, and the ball is out and they call timeout on a loose ball,” Vogel said in an exasperated tone. “You can’t call a timeout on a loose ball. You can’t do it. So if the whistle blows, I don’t know why, everything in the league is reviewable. I don’t know why that can’t be reviewable. I know it’s not a foul or an out-of-bounds [call], which is a challenge. But at any point in the game and the whistle blows inadvertently, the ref can huddle up and say, ‘Inadvertent whistle; where were we at during the game?’”
Vogel called it “extremely disappointing” after sharing the officials told him that “nothing about it is reviewable.” That prompted Vogel and Booker both to argue that officials should be able to review any play during crunch time.
Devin Booker claims Phoenix Suns did not get a ‘fair chance’ in loss to Los Angeles Lakers
“We’re not asking for favoritism, just a fair chance,” Booker said. “Even in the pre-game huddles, we said, ‘We understand what type of game it’s going to be; just keep playing all the way through it. We continued to play an uphill battle the whole time. To watch it unfold like that is tough.”
Yet, Durant contended “That’s not the reason we lost the game.”
“That’s not the game; that’s one play,” Durant said. “It’s a 48-minute game. I don’t like complaining about calls. Sometimes a ref isn’t going to get it right all the time. Sometimes it’s on us to do all of that stuff and not worry about putting the game in the refs’ hands. I didn’t get to see the ball as it was happening. But the replay is what it is, though. We can’t put ourselves in that position.”
Instead, Durant lamented the Lakers’ advantage on the offensive glass (21-8) and in field-goal attempts (102-75) as well as the Suns’ 20 turnovers. Though Durant posted 31 points while shooting 12-for-17 shooting and 4-for-7 from 3-point range, he faulted himself for recording nearly as many fouls (five) and turnovers (five) as rebounds (seven) and assists (four). The Lakers also featured James (31 points, 11 assists), Anthony Davis (27 points, 15 rebounds) and Reaves (20) all cracked double figures.
While admittedly playing in pain through his left ankle for most of the second half, Durant also airballed a potential game-winning 30-foot 3 with 2.5 seconds left.
“It’s just part of the game. Not everybody is going to get every call right just like we’re not going to get every shot right,” Durant said. “We’re not going to make every decision right. We can’t rely on that.”
In fairness, both Vogel and Booker critiqued the Phoenix Suns’ play elsewhere.
Vogel lamented the Suns for their poor ball handling and offensive rebounding before praising the team for overcoming a 15-point deficit with a 14-0 run to open the second half. Booker conceded the difficulty with he (five), Durant (five), and Jusuf Nurkic (five) all playing through foul trouble before complimenting Durant for still performing through his left ankle injury.
Nonetheless, Devin Booker spent considerably more time critiquing how the officials handled the timeout call.
“The whole world’s seen it. I just got off social media and other players around the league have seen it,” Booker said. “Refs miss calls sometimes. But when they’re a bit that obvious, it’s tough.”
After Reaves made a step-back 3 to give the Lakers a 105-101 lead with 15.3 seconds, the Phoenix Suns called their final timeout in hopes of creating either a quick 3 or layup. After Durant made a layup to cut the deficit to 105-103 with 11.2 seconds left, the Suns hoped to force a turnover to ensure another quick basket.
After James inbounded the ball to Reaves, Booker attempted a steal. Once Reaves caught the ball, Booker stopped in hopes of avoiding collecting his sixth foul. After Reaves lost control of the ball, Durant also tried to trap him.
“My hands were back. Reaves tried to draw a foul. Once we bumped into each other, he was trying to get the ball back since then,” Booker said. “That is a good three, four or five seconds to build up before LeBron grabbed the referee and called a timeout.”
Immediately, Booker pleaded to officials to reverse the call.
“I said, ‘He didn’t have the ball. You can’t call a timeout there,’” Booker said. “I don’t know if it’s something the refs can come together on and decide. That still takes away our layup opportunity. But it’s still better than giving them the ball back.”
Booker said the officials didn’t offer him any explanation. But official Josh Tiven, who served as the game’s Crew Chief, told a pool reporter that the officials correctly granted James’ timeout.
“During live play, the official felt that LA still had possession of the ball when LeBron James requested the timeout,” Tiven told the pool reporter. “Through postgame video review in slow motion replay, we did see that Austin Reaves had his left hand on the ball while it’s pinned against his left leg, which does constitute control.”
Afterwards, the Lakers inbounded the ball to Davis. Then, Suns guard Eric Gordon quickly fouled Davis with 6.6 seconds left. After Davis split the pair of free throws, Devin Booker grabbed the rebound and pushed the ball up to Durant. He then airballed a 30-footer.
“It’s two seconds to go and the whole team is rushing at me,” Durant said. “I have to pull from deep. We shouldn’t even be in that position. I think we had the game in hand. They just made more shots than us down the stretch.”
Booker struggled to accept that reality.
“Even if it wasn’t an In-Season tournament game and it played out like how it did tonight, I would still be [ticked] off,” Booker said. “I try to bring the same approach to every night.”
As a result, the Phoenix Suns (12-9) will host a regular-season game against the Sacramento Kings (11-8) on Friday. On Thursday, the Lakers (13-9) will play in the semifinals against the New Orleans Pelicans (12-10) in Las Vegas. Should the Lakers win, they will compete in the NBA Cup on Saturday against either the Milwaukee Bucks or Indiana Pacers.
“I’m going to go with the Lakers since they beat us,” Durant said. “They got the size to compete with anybody. They got the quickest flight out of anybody and most fans out of anybody. It’s set up for them to win. I can’t wait to watch. The intensity of these games has been incredible. I wasn’t a fan as they were performing this thing. Now I’m a fan of In-season and looking forward to watching it.”
Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Threads.