patrick beverley camera
ABC

The Celtics and Lakers did not disappoint in their primetime showdown on Saturday night, as the longtime rivals were the headliners of the league’s Saturday slate on ABC.

The game went down to the wire, featuring a wild finish in which the two teams traded leads and ties, with some questionable officiating playing a not insignificant role in the outcome. The Lakers took a two-point lead in the final 20 seconds on, of all things, a Patrick Beverley putback dunk — the ninth dunk of his career and first since 2019.

The Celtics would tie the game in the final five seconds on a Jaylen Brown and-1 bucket (with a very late whistle) off an offensive rebound of an Al Horford missed corner three that hit the top corner of the backboard. From there, the Lakers would have a chance to win the game with five seconds to play, and got the ball to LeBron James, who drove to the basket and very clearly got hit on the arm by Jayson Tatum, only for there to be no whistle.

That led to an all-time meltdown from James, who was rightfully furious about the no-call.

The funniest part of it all came between the fourth quarter and overtime when Beverley picked up a technical foul for grabbing one of the cameras from someone shooting the game on the baseline, walked it over to the ref, and showed him the picture of Tatum clearly making contact with James’ arm.

That allowed Boston to start the overtime period with a one-point lead as Tatum hit a technical free throw before the tip, but it’s an all-timer from PatBev. The Celtics would go on to win 125-121 in overtime, as the Lakers could never pull them back in after a hot start saw them go up six. However, the discussion will, unquestionably, be about the end of regulation and the calls and non-calls that ended up sending the game to an extra five minutes.

Source: https://uproxx.com/dimemag/lebron-james-tatum-foul-no-call-reaction-meltdown-patrick-beverley-camera-video/