Broken clock, reviews mar final minutes of Lakers-Warriors

LOS ANGELES — The last two minutes of the game clock in the Golden State Warriors‘ 128-121 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night took more than 20 minutes of real time to play out thanks to a series of replay reviews and shot-clock malfunctions.

The delays began with 1:50 remaining in the fourth, with the Lakers trailing 124-120, when L.A. coach Darvin Ham challenged an out-of-bounds call that granted the Warriors possession while Lakers center Jaxson Hayes and Golden State forward Andrew Wiggins both went for the rebound.

While the officials were reviewing the out-of-bounds call, they determined that the corner 3-pointer LeBron James made on the previous trip down the court with 2:07 remaining did not count.

The Lakers ended up winning the challenge — Hayes and Wiggins faced off for a jump ball — but lost points in the process.

“I’ve never seen that be called before like that — in that particular time,” said James, who finished with 40 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds. “That was kind of weird. … It took some momentum away from us.”

The ruling was eerily similar to one from a December game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, in which a late 3 by James that would have tied the score was downgraded to a 2-pointer after review. Just like he did that night, James disagreed with the call Saturday.

“I didn’t believe I stepped on the line, obviously,” James said Saturday. “I knew how much space I had over there. And when I shoot, I shoot on my tippy toes, so it’s kind of hard for me to have a heel down.”

Crew chief David Guthrie explained the ruling in a postgame statement to a pool reporter.

“James’ left foot is out of bounds as he begins to shoot,” Guthrie said. “Yes, it is reviewable at that time. The rule is Rule 13, Section II(f)(3): Whether the shooter committed a boundary line violation, the replay center official will only look at the position of the player’s feet at the moment they touch the floor immediately prior to the release of the shot. This can be applied during other replay triggers as well.”

While the overturned 3 helped his team, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he would just as soon lived without the ruling.

“I also don’t like the rule that you can go back and look at an out of bounds, or LeBron’s 3,” Kerr said. “That seems to happen once or twice a year. I’d love to see that rule go away. I think we’re trying so hard to get everything just right, at the expense of the flow. I mean, who cares if a guy’s foot is half an inch on the line? Is that worth going back 45 seconds and changing everything, with the unintended consequences? It’s not my favorite rule, for sure.”

James, however, defended the spirit of the replay rules.

“At the end of the day, you want to get it…