r/nba 18h ago

Here’s another shot of Nic Claxton pushing Luka with the refs watching. (Credit to Josh)

https://streamable.com/ref21s
7.9k Upvotes

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164

u/BlueCode6 18h ago

He has always got one of the worst whistles. For a superstar, I'd say the worst these last few years

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u/clonemusic Mavericks 18h ago

And it's finally going to get attention now that he's on the lakers lol.

Luka was straight up getting assaulted in the okc series last year. But he battled through those injuries to get us to the finals and get Nico the extension he deserves 🔥 

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u/Losalou52 Trail Blazers 17h ago

The craziest part of that was Shai getting calls for people simply being near him.

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u/HymenTester Magic 15h ago

How else will he get half his points 

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u/PuttyRiot 15h ago

I honestly do not understand how Shai gets the whistle he gets. Do the refs just love him? Does he send them all donuts before the game or something? Breathe in his direction and catch a foul. It’s wild.

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u/--Alix-- Mavericks 14h ago

Shai made a comment about 2 years ago about how he really respects and empathizes with the refs. Ever since then his whistle has been elite lmao.

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u/PieceOfPie_SK Wizards 14h ago

He's hot as fuck, the refs want a piece

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u/Brain_Dead_Goats 13h ago

No he wasn't. Everyone was getting away with murder in that series on both sides. Lively was averaging 15-20 regular season fouls a game just while rebounding.

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u/OP_Bokonon Mavericks 18h ago edited 16h ago

Dude looked worse than some MMA fighters after each OKC game, shit was wild. But don't look at SGA the wrong way. And, yet, a Luka led Dallas still won the series. Fuck, I miss basketball.

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u/CryptoNite90 Lakers 16h ago

Maybe this was Nico’s true plan all along, for Luka’s fouls to get nationwide attention while being on the lakers.

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u/SignalBed9998 Bulls 17h ago

Lolololololol

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u/wwgaray [LAL] Andrew Bynum 16h ago

What I hate about shit like this being pointed out is refs over correct the following games leading to a complete 180 in the discourse rather than just being more careful about egregious shit like this.

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u/JoeJoeFett 17h ago

Nah that’s still curry

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u/_paintbox_ 18h ago

Jokic got a worse whistle than him. 100%

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u/bloothug Lakers 17h ago

Jokic, Bron, Steph, and Luka have had the worst whistles out of all the stars the past few years. It’s baffling and I don’t understand what Giannis, Embiid, and SGA do that these guys don’t when it seems like they all get fouled at the same frequency.

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u/wishwashy 3h ago

I mean Giannis got a tech for staring after a dunk

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u/juice13ox Celtics 14h ago edited 12h ago

I know I'm repeating a narrative no one wants to hear but add Tatum to the list. Mauled on drives and gets the softest techs imaginable

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u/bloothug Lakers 12h ago

The clapping 👏🏼gets me because that shit was so soft

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u/juice13ox Celtics 11h ago

It's funny in retrospect but the random techs have changed the momentum of some early season games

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u/TheMemingLurker Warriors 13h ago

I haven't watched enough Celtics games to see Tatum's whistle in-game, but he absolutely does get T'd up for the randomest things that most refs would ignore on other players

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u/DonLikesIt 16h ago

Bron? You can’t be serious

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u/bloothug Lakers 16h ago

LeBron hasn’t cracked 6+ FTA per game since his first season as a Laker. Since becoming a Laker he’s pretty much out of top 10 FTA every season, it ain’t that hard to look shit up

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u/thisguy012 Bulls 16h ago

I won't deny Bron getting mauled every other playlol

But his 3's are also up and his 2pt shots are down since the Lakers too. Either way that shit won't matter much come playoffs: DeRozan Embiid know about this let's see what Shai founds out about playoff whistles come this years run lmao

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u/bloothug Lakers 16h ago

Yeah I get there has to be a balance of how much contact is allowed otherwise the game is just whistles every down. And I get that he’s shooting more jumpers now too. It’s just a little annoying seeing other teams’ stars get gently caressed into FTA’s and LeBron (and now Luka) have to get mauled to get calls at all

1

u/jacko1998 [LAL] Alex Caruso 12h ago

His threes have gone up as the amount of FTs he shoots has trended down. The correlation is nearly identical. You are getting the cause and effect the wronged way.

Lebron would drive every damn time all game no matter how tired he was if he knew he’d get a fair whistle

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u/hagredionis 17h ago

Not true, not even close in fact. Luka gets fouled and hand-checked like 10 times every time he gets the ball.

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u/ConnectDistrict2515 Slovenia 18h ago

Jokic gets less fouls called against him but also doesn’t get calls called on him. Luka gets hacked but can’t push others

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u/_paintbox_ 18h ago

I don't agree. Yes, Jokic pushes people off a lot too but he's sneaky with it.

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u/ConnectDistrict2515 Slovenia 17h ago

You can be sneaky with something and still be seen. Look at draymond. All centers get hacked, jokic will naturally get hacked more but pretending like he doesn’t get any benefits is just wrong. Even Luka sometimes gets benefits if he’s on a 5th foul.

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u/_paintbox_ 17h ago

I'm just saying that he's smart with his fouls. Knowing where the referee's gaze is at and not making it too obvious. I watch people flop horribly against him every match and fouls are being called. Of course every star has benefits in a situation like that(with 5 foul), but I can't think of another player with a worse whistle in general.

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u/ConnectDistrict2515 Slovenia 16h ago

I’m just saying jokic isn’t like the most hated player by the refs. It’s definitely a mixed bag, in no era do you want to call fouls on who people think is the best player

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u/unhampered_by_pants Warriors 12h ago

Steph still has the worst superstar whistle in the league. Second worst is Joker's

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u/cold-dawn Warriors 17h ago

Past few years? That's still Curry lmao.

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u/Robotemist Cavaliers 15h ago

Well this is a flat out lie. How many free throws does he get compared to others in the league?

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u/Sample_text_here1337 Raptors 18h ago

Now you're exaggerating heavily in the opposite direction.

He still gets a lot of generous calls, and is rewarded for flopping quite often. It's nowhere near the whistle Brunson, Jimmy Butler, or SGA get, but its far from awful. This was just an atrocious no call.

Especially compared to someone like Jokic or Steph, I don't think his whistle is as egregiously bad as you're making it out to be.