Luke Kennard’s game-winner dominated the headlines as the Los Angeles Lakers extended their streak to nine games. But the sequence leading to it includes a huge call on LeBron James, which remained a talking point. Head coach JJ Redick was upset with the officials, and the L2M report wasn’t enough to convince the Lakers nation.

The game-winning play happened with 0.6 seconds remaining as the Lakers trailed 104-102. Marcus Smart cleverly made an inbound pass from the baseline to Kennard on the left wing, who had enough time to adjust the sleeve and hit the 3-point shot, which went in and gave the Lakers a victory. But before this play, there was a call that did not go in favor of the Purple and Gold franchise.

The Last Two Minute Report, or L2M, is a play-by-play report regarding all calls and material non-calls in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter. It aims to provide more context to the fans about the officials’ decision-making process. It stated, “Banchero (ORL) makes initial hand-on-ball contact, legally blocking the shot and initiating the dislodge before any subsequent incidental contact occurs with LeBron James (LAL) during the layup attempt.”

For context, the Lakers, with 4.7 seconds left, had the chance to tie the game with James’ dunk. Marcus Smart inbounded from the right sideline high near the basket to James, who had it knocked away by Banchero. No foul was called on the Magic forward, even though James wanted one. A foul call would have given LeBron James two free throws with a chance to tie the game as a best-case scenario with two seconds left on the clock.

Or they could have gone the route they chose against the Nuggets: score one, miss the other, and look for a rebound. The Magic didn’t have any timeouts left to get a good look with so little time left. But the report clearly sided with the officials, which the fans disagreed with.

Fans question the call on LeBron James despite the win

The officials ruled the block was clean, even though observers, including Redick, felt a foul should have been called on James’ arm during the play and called out the officiating. A fan felt the same and added, “He clearly hit him on the wrist though. You could see LeBron on the broadcast say ‘that’s f—d up man’ to the ref 😂.”

As is typical with the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report, its findings raise more questions than they answer. Even JJ Redick added more pressure on the refs as he concluded with “they didn’t have a real good control of that basketball game.” The netizen’s comment echoed this sentiment. “Just a terribly officiated game. Lakers got away with one. That blatant foul on LeBron was egregious.”

The Lakers‘ head coach explained why he was disappointed. “So, down 2 and we get LeBron open. We actually just challenged this call in our last game, and the ball got initially hit. But then if LeBron still has possession of the ball and then gets fouled across the arm, that’s considered a foul. (Because) we challenged that, we lost that challenge. So again, another night where explanations get changed based on a whim. We had to overcome a lot tonight, and by that, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

This clearly puts the official on notice for accountability on their calls. But the L2M this time sided with the Lakers. They called the contact incidental, which another fan did not agree with. “What video are they watching cause Bron was clearly hit across the arm😂😂😂.”

In fact, the video shared by the league in its report doesn’t exactly give a great look to agree with them. Fans trolled them for this. “NBA thinks we don’t have eyes lmao, it was a clear foul on Bron 🤣🤣.” Another one added, “NBA is stupid. Paola fouled LeBron clear as day.”

Since Paolo slapped LeBron’s entire arm, fans’ outrage about the no-call is understandable. The only solace Lakers fans have is that they still ultimately won the game.