Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams gave just one answer before leaving his postgame news conference Wednesday night, his team furious at the wide disparity from free throws that favored the Lakers in the win at Los Angeles home 122-111.
Williams criticized game officials, describing what he sees as a pattern of unfair officiating against his team in recent games. The Lakers made 46 free throws to the Suns’ 20, outscoring Phoenix by 21 points at the free throw line.
“Where do you see a game with 46 free throws for a team?” Williams said. “That’s just not right. I don’t care how you look at it. Too much is happening to us. Other teams are reaching, other teams are hitting, and we’re not getting the same call, and I’m tired of it’s old Forty-six to 20 free throws with Devin Booker on our team, he hits 12. I mean, our bench had no free throws. It’s just… I’m over it. I’ve been talking about the same thing for a while. It doesn’t matter what team it is.”
Booker scored 25 of his 33 points in the second half for the Suns, who have been called for 31 personal fouls in each of their past two games. Chris Paul he said the scorecard was “a bit strange”.
“We’ve been seeing some crazy stuff in different situations,” Paul added. “I watch a lot of basketball, and … we have a guy (Booker) who goes (to hoops) night after night and you don’t necessarily see the same (calls). It’s crazy. Crazy how some of (officials) also, not even You can’t even talk to them or get close to them… because that (communication) is horrible.”
Paul had 18 points for the Suns, who have lost five of six. Phoenix had not lost to the Lakers in six games since May 2021.
The Lakers made 27 free throws in the first half to the Suns’ 10, but Phoenix rallied to fall behind by just one point with 7:29 to play. The Lakers then stopped him with a 16-6 run.
“After the game is controlled in the first half and we lose 20 to 30 free throws, it’s easier for them to give us a few after that,” Booker said. “Like Chris said, I watch these games every night, so I understand what’s going on. I understand the agendas that are being pushed, and I try to get that out of my head and go out there and compete.”
Associated Press contributed to this report.
