LeBron James said he couldn’t “understand” how officials missed a late foul on him as his Los Angeles Lakers team suffered a 125-121 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics.
James was denied a foul by Jayson Tatum as he drove for the basket with the score 105-105 and 4.1 seconds left in regulation time.
Official team manager Eric Lewis later said his team had “missed the game”.
James scored a game-high 41 points in the loss.
“I don’t understand,” he said of Tatum’s foul not having been given in favor of his team.
“You’ve seen some of the games we’ve lost with missed calls late in the game. I don’t see that happening to anyone else.”
James took his total to 38,271 career points and is 116 off Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time record.
“Even if you try not to put it on the referee, it gets harder and harder,” LA Lakers coach Darvin Ham said.
“The best player in the NBA can’t get a call. It’s unbelievable.”
James’ teammate Anthony Davis added: “I guarantee you nothing will happen to the referee. We got screwed. It’s a flagrant foul. The referees were bad tonight.”
Lewis, speaking after the game, said: “There was contact. At the time, during the game, we didn’t see a foul.”
Elsewhere, Joel Embiid recorded 47 points and 18 rebounds as a Philadelphia 76ers emerged with a 126-119 win over Nikola Jokic and the Denver nuggets.
It was the Sixers’ seventh straight win and ninth game this season in which Embiid scored at least 40 points.
The brooklyn nets beat the New York Knicks 122-115 to secure a ninth consecutive victory over their rivals.
Kyrie Irving scored 21 of his 32 points for the Nets in the fourth quarter as he scored 30 or more points for the sixth straight game.
Other results include the Phoenix Suns earning a 128-118 win over the San Antonio Spurs, the Chicago Bulls beating the Orlando Magic 128-109 and the LA Clippers winning 120-113 over the Atlanta Hawks.
