Lakers Are Upset in 88-87 Loss, and So Is Riley : Coach Charges Referee After Controversial Foul Is Called in Last Four Seconds

The Lakers lost a game Saturday night, and immediately afterward, Pat Riley lost his cool. Both losses were a little unexpected.

After all, how could the Lakers lose to the Seattle SuperSonics, a team 20 games under .500? Simple, really. By playing terribly, especially in the first half.

And how did they lose, 88-87? That’s also simple, according to Riley, whose meticulously coiffed hair got more than a little ruffled when he charged referee Hugh Evans after the game.

The normally placid Riley went jaw-to-jaw with Evans, who in Riley’s opinion, blew a call that might have decided the game.

Evans whistled a charging call on Maurice Lucas with four seconds to go, the SuperSonics ahead by a point and the Lakers trying to get off a last shot at winning a game it looked as if they had already lost in the first half.

Lucas dribbled into Danny Vranes, who fell to the floor, and Evans immediately called a charging foul on Lucas. Riley and Lucas weren’t the only ones who questioned the call. So did Vranes.

“If that had been Magic Johnson instead of Lucas, no way would I have gotten that call,” Vranes said. “The foul would have been on me.”

Riley, who believes the Lakers are in a two-week drought of not getting the calls they deserve from officials, said he had seen enough. So, he told Evans just that in a rather heated, one-way conversation.

Evans didn’t say anything, except to ask a SuperSonic official that the game tape be sent to the league office in New York.

But what did Riley say?

“Can you read lips?” Riley asked.

Some of those at courtside heard for themselves. A partial transcript: “Hugh, you know something? You’re a (bleep) idiot.”

In the locker room, Riley explained why he was so upset.

“It’s just hand-to-hand combat when we’re on offense,” he said.

“Judgment. Was it a charging foul or was it a blocking foul on them? He (Evans) was letting everything else go, so why make any call at all?

“It’s hard enough to give one away, but to have one taken away from you,” Riley said. “We’ve had to work doubly hard in the last two weeks, because if we don’t, we don’t get any calls at all. There have been a number of those incidents, and it’s getting worse.”

It’s hard to imagine the Lakers playing any worse than they did in the first half, especially in the first quarter.

But, somehow, the Lakers still had a chance to win when Tom Chambers missed two free throws that would have clinched the game with 13 seconds left and the SuperSonics ahead by a point.

The Lakers called time out with 10 seconds remaining, and Lucas was then called for charging into Vranes. Or was it the other way around?

“He just ran into me,” Lucas said. “If that call was anything, the guy just out-and-out fouled me. When I put my foot through on my move, he just ran into me.”

Seattle led, 45-39, at halftime after holding the Lakers to 11 points in the first quarter, the Lakers’ lowest output in one quarter all season. The Lakers made only five field goals in the first quarter, two fewer than their turnovers.

In the last 7:07 of the quarter, the Lakers managed exactly four points. By halftime, the Lakers had been outrebounded, 33-13.

“As bad as we played, we still had a chance,” Lucas said.

The Lakers reached a couple of low-water points. Their total of 87 points was their lowest in 111 games, and the Laker total of 30 rebounds was their lowest in more than two years.

But in the fourth quarter, the Lakers appeared to have recovered. An inside hoop by James Worthy and two three-point plays by Johnson, who led the Lakers with 20 points, put the Lakers ahead, 87-84, with 1:57 left.

Two free throws by Chambers and Jack Sikma’s jump shot put the SuperSonics back up again, 88-87, with 1:05 left. That finished the scoring, but it didn’t finish the excitement. The Lucas-Vranes play did that.

“We did get a break,” admitted Seattle Coach Bernie Bickerstaff.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 18 points, but he missed his last five shots, which is something the Lakers were doing all night.

The Lakers scored only three baskets the last five minutes, and a little more offense might have made as much of a difference as a call by an official.

“Yeah, I’m upset by the officiating, but do you think they give a (bleep)?” Riley asked.

Abdul-Jabbar, who said he was fouled by Sikma just before Lucas was called for the charge, believes the Lakers are a victim of a double-standard by officials.

“People just have a pre-set idea of how talented we are, and we don’t get the calls like everyone else.”

Laker Notes Backup center Petur Gudmundsson banged heads with Danny Vranes in the first quarter. Gudmundsson needed four stitches to close a cut on the right side of his head. Vranes was only slightly shaken up, and both players returned to the game later.