The Lakers won 131-125 against Toronto on Sunday at the Crypto.com Arena. They led by 26 points. Then Toronto came back hard late in the game. Noted.
After that, JJ Redick spoke. He told BasketNews: “We scored 131 with 24 turnovers. I mean, you guys can see it. Some of those turnovers are because we’re like legitimately getting fouled,” and added that defenders grab the arm the ball handler isn’t dribbling with, and that he has spoken to one of the officials about it.
I have no view on the arm. The referee whistles, I note. What I know is what’s on the sheet: 26 fouls for Toronto. The Lakers 27 of 32 from the line, Toronto 18 of 25. Luka Doncic, 13 of 13. That’s a clean column.
The problem is elsewhere. The coach says 24 turnovers. BasketNews counts 22. Two figures for the same game. At our place, on the Herve plateau, near Verviers, the sheet is signed by both captains, and after that nobody goes back to it. Over there, they have twenty screens and two totals.
An uncalled foul has no column. I looked for it in my folder, with the red pen. Nothing. A foul that wasn’t whistled, on a sheet, is a blank. And a blank, I don’t know how to count.
The two teams meet again on 3 January in Toronto. I’m keeping the page.
Lakers turnovers: 24 or 22, to be checked at the table. It’s on the sheet.
It’s true, we checked: BasketNews.
