MILWAUKEE — In the middle of the third quarter on Wednesday night, Anthony Davis leaked out in transition and caught an outlet pass from Russell Westbrook. As he went to the rim, Giannis Antetokounmpo came racing back on defense and tried to come up with a miraculous block.
He couldn’t get there in time, and Davis threw down the slam while seemingly taking some contact from the two-time MVP. When he didn’t get the call, the Los Angeles Lakers bench erupted and Davis stared at the nearest official with a look of disgust. He finished the night with 18 points, nine rebounds and zero free throw attempts in Los Angeles’ 109-102 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Following the game, Lakers coach Frank Vogel was quick to criticize the officiating. And what’s more, he said the team has brought their complaints to the league.
“I think Anthony Davis getting zero free throw attempts is a little bit mind-boggling,” Vogel said. “And it’s something we’ve been communicating to the league about.”
There was a large free throw disparity in the game, as the Bucks shot 24 compared to just 12 for the Lakers. And on that specific play in the third quarter, Davis and the Lakers have a valid complaint. There was clear body contact down low from Giannis, and it looks like he got him up top as well going off this freeze frame.
That’s just one play, however, and missed calls happen. In general, there doesn’t seem to be much to complain about with regard to Davis’ free throw attempts. Against the Bucks, he primarily took jumpers, many of them fadeaways, and only five of his 15 attempts came at the rim. He simply wasn’t aggressive enough to demand multiple trips to the line.
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Meanwhile, while many stars have seen their free throw attempts crater due to the league’s new rule changes, Davis’ attempts are nearly identical to last season. His 5.8 free throw attempts per game (compared to 5.9 last season) are good for 11th in the league.
If you went through every single play you could obviously find calls that the refs have missed, and it’s a coach’s job to stick up for his players publicly, but the Lakers aren’t going to get much sympathy on this one.
