Portland Trail Blazers fans, allow me to turn your attention, ever so briefly, to NBA officiating, LeBron James and last night’s matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics.
With the score tied at 105-105 in the final seconds of regulation, James drove to the rack for what appeared to be the game-winning layup — until Jayson Tatum whacked James’ arm to no whistle from the referees. The no-call forced the miss and forced overtime, which ended in a 125-121 win for the Celtics.
The operatic end-of-regulation sequence has emerged as the storyline of the game.