Los Angeles Lakers lost a 20-point lead they had in the third quarter against the Denver Nuggets and crumbled in the fourth quarter. Although the Nuggets’ comeback should have been the game’s main narrative, Darvin Ham, D’Angelo Russell, and LeBron James’ complaints turned the game into one about refereeing.

When Michael Porter Jr. struck D’Angelo Russell in the face, the Lakers as a whole didn’t seem to care that he wasn’t fouled. The play occurred in the third quarter, when the score was still 10 points, and the Lakers had more than enough time to win even if the team has every right to be furious with the call.

Although the Lakers had hoped for some sort of admission of guilt from the referees, the NBA did acknowledge to making a mistake, but not the one they had anticipated.

Only one erroneous call was acknowledged by the NBA in their Last Two Minute report. Nikola Jokic should have been called for a defensive three-second call at 1:53, but that was not the case. The NBA released the following statement:

“Jokic (DEN) straddles the lane line and is in the paint for longer than three seconds without imminently actively guarding an opponent.”

The NBA did not make any additional errors on the Last Two-Minute report save from that one call. Whether it pleases the Lakers or not, they have a short window of time before getting back together for Game 3.