CNN
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LeBron James was left on the court in frustration after the umpires missed a foul in his attempt to win the game, and the Los Angeles Lakers succumbed to a 125-121 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics.
With a 105 tie and less than three seconds on the clock, James drove to the layup and was hit in the arm by Jayson Tatum, but the umpires did not call a foul, which led to overtime.
James bounced around the pitch with his head in complete disbelief while Patrick Beverley was given a camera by a photographer to show the referee a picture of the missed call and received a technical foul for doing so.
James had hauled in a game-high 41 points, which kept him 117 points from beating Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record, as well as nine rebounds and eight assists, but was furious afterwards.
“I don’t understand,” he told reporters after the game. “I don’t understand what we’re doing and I watch basketball every day. I watch these games every day and I don’t see it happening to anyone else. It’s just weird.”
The Lakers’ anger was compounded by a series of previous calls they viewed as bad during close losses to the Dallas Mavericks and Philadelphia 76ers.
“We got cheated on tonight,” Lakers power forward Anthony Davis said afterwards. “It’s a blatant foul… To be honest, it’s unacceptable. The referees were bad tonight.”
Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown added 11 points to the Celtics in overtime to secure the win and end their triple losing streak. His 37 points in the game also included a three-pointer to level it 4.1 seconds before regulation time. Tatum contributed 30 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
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