Frank Vogel criticizes refs for ‘two bad calls’ late in Game 5 loss

NBA: Finals-Los Angeles Lakers at Miami Heat

The Lakers have lost two of their last three games to the Heat, yet for some reason, the team’s head coach is placing some of the blame on the officials, rather than his squad’s performance.

Outside of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers did not shoot the ball well at all in Friday’s Game 5 loss. If you subtract James’ three-point shooting, the Lakers made just eight of 29 shots they attempted from the perimeter. There was no X-Factor, as Kyle Kuzma and Danny Green were awful in the game.

But Frank Vogel instead elected to focus on the officiating after the 111-108 loss.

“I felt two bad calls at the end put Butler to the line, and that’s unfortunate in a game of this magnitude,” Vogel said. “Anthony Davis has perfect verticality, and it should be a play on. And the time before that, Markieff Morris has his hand on the ball. That should be a play on. They were given four free throws and made it an uphill battle for us.

“Very disappointed in that aspect of the game, but our group’s fine. We’re going to bounce back strong. We’ll have a better performance in Game 6.”

We guess Vogel and the Lakers will send another memo to the league, but maybe they’d be better off watching film and making adjustments — rather than complaining about calls.

 

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