We’re not asking for favoritism, just a fair chance,” Booker said. “Even in the pre-game huddles, we said, ‘We understand what type of game it’s going to be; just keep playing all the way through it. We continued to play an uphill battle the whole time. To watch it unfold like that is tough.”
Yet, Durant contended “That’s not the reason we lost the game.”
“That’s not the game; that’s one play,” Durant said. “It’s a 48-minute game. I don’t like complaining about calls. Sometimes a ref isn’t going to get it right all the time. Sometimes it’s on us to do all of that stuff and not worry about putting the game in the refs’ hands. I didn’t get to see the ball as it was happening. But the replay is what it is, though. We can’t put ourselves in that position.”
Instead, Durant lamented the Lakers’ advantage on the offensive glass (21-8) and in field-goal attempts (102-75) as well as the Suns’ 20 turnovers. Though Durant posted 31 points while shooting 12-for-17 shooting and 4-for-7 from 3-point range, he faulted himself for recording nearly as many fouls (five) and turnovers (five) as rebounds (seven) and assists (four). The Lakers also featured James (31 points, 11 assists), Anthony Davis (27 points, 15 rebounds) and Reaves (20) all cracked double figures.
While admittedly playing in pain through his left ankle for most of the second half, Durant also airballed a potential game-winning 30-foot 3 with 2.5 seconds left.
It’s just part of the game. Not everybody is going to get every call right just like we’re not going to get every shot right,” Durant said. “We’re not going to make every decision right. We can’t rely on that.”
In fairness, both Vogel and Booker critiqued the Phoenix Suns’ play elsewhere.
Vogel lamented the Suns for their poor ball handling and offensive rebounding before praising the team for overcoming a 15-point deficit with a 14-0 run to open the second half. Booker conceded the difficulty with he (five), Durant (five), and Jusuf Nurkic (five) all playing through foul trouble before complimenting Durant for still performing through his left ankle injury.
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