Redick: Officiating played a role in Lakers' loss to Pistons
Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick suggested that referees played a significant role in Tuesday's 128-106 home loss to the Detroit Pistons.
"I think there's probably a level of frustration when you're turning the ball over, and you're feeling like you're getting fouled," Redick said, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
The Pistons committed 26 fouls, resulting in 31 free throws for the Lakers, while L.A. was called for 24 fouls, leading to 29 free throws for Detroit.
"There's frustration there, for sure," Redick added. "But I mean, again, I said it even here, we said it this morning: They're going to foul every possession. It's just, you got to play through it."
The Lakers had 20 turnovers compared to the Pistons' 18. Luka Doncic committed a team-high eight turnovers and emphasized afterward the need to match opponents' aggression better.
"We've got to definitely match their physicality," Doncic said, according to McMenamin. "That's the whole point. We got to match how they play. You saw the refs let it go, so we should play (with) physicality, for sure."
In the first quarter, Lakers guard Marcus Smart was hit in the face by Pistons forward Duncan Robinson, and Smart received a technical foul for arguing with officials after the incident wasn't reviewed. Later, Lakers forward Jake LaRavia took an elbow to the head from Jalen Duren in the second quarter. Initially called a common foul, referees upgraded it to a flagrant 1 following a review.
Officials also assessed Doncic with a technical foul for "flailing" after his arm struck Detroit's Ronald Holland's face.
LeBron James declined to discuss the referees postgame, saying, "It's not my lane to talk about how it was officiated or not."
However, James, who turned 41 on Tuesday, was more open about the Lakers' struggles after the team fell to 20-11 with its fourth loss in five games.
"We haven't had a full team all year," James said.
"We got some very important guys out right now. And obviously, I started the year being out. And having our All-Star, two-guard (Austin Reaves) out, and Rui (Hachimura) is now out. And Gabe (Vincent has) been out for a minute. Jaxson (Hayes) just came back. There's been a lot of in and out. So that's very hard to get a rhythm of chemistry on the floor with guys that you know you're going to play with every night."
James added: "But still no excuse. We still got to go out and execute. ... The better team tonight won."