Lakers Timeout Controversy: Refs and Video Suggest LeBron Saved the Day

Under most circumstances, calling a timeout is fairly cut and dry. Someone asks the referee for a stoppage, and it's granted. Both teams take a breather, and no one bats an eye.

On Tuesday night, though, things got a bit messier.

During the dying seconds of the LA Lakers' date with the Phoenix Suns, Austin Reaves found himself in a bad spot. And while it looked like he lost the ball, giving Kevin Durant and company a chance to tie (or win) the game, that wasn't the case. A whistle stopped play, and the officials deemed that the Lakers had called a timeout.

Los Angeles ended up seeing out the remaining time and escaped with the win, placing the timeout at the center of an NBA controversy. According to the refs and a synced-up video, though, the call on the court was correct.

Let's break things down.

A Controversial Timeout Saved the Lakers

As mentioned above, everything kicked off in the final seconds of Tuesday night's Lakers-Suns game. LA inbounded the ball with a two-point lead, and Reaves attempted to beat the pressure. He was trapped near the sideline, though, and the ball squirted free. It seemed like Phoenix had gotten the steal they desperately needed, but the play was blown dead for an LA timeout.

Immediately, controversy started swirling. It appeared that Reaves had lost possession, making it impossible for the Lakers to call a timeout. And given that the home team emerged with a three-point win and a ticket to the NBA In-Season Tournament semifinals, the chatter only got louder.

Phoenix coach Frank Vogel, for one, questioned the call.

"It's a loose ball, and you can't call a timeout on a loose ball," he said. "The whistle blows. I don't know why. Everything in the league is reviewable. I don't know why that can't be reviewable[...]We got the trap, we got the turnover, [and the] damn whistle blows. It's just frustrating."

Devin Booker, not to mention plenty of social media users, agreed.

It is worth noting, though, that Durant refused to blame the loss on a single moment.

"That's not the ballgame," he explained. "That's one play. It's a 48-minute game. I don't like to complain about calls. Sometimes the ref ain't going to get it right all the time. Sometimes it's on us to play through all that stuff and not worry about putting the game in the ref's hands."

James Seems to Have Saved the Day

While the NBA isn't perfect, the league does deserve some credit for providing refereeing explanations after the game. And, in this case, Crew Chief Josh Tiven explained what his team saw during the controversial moments.

"During live play the official felt that LA still had possession of the ball when LeBron James requested the timeout," he told pool reporter Jovan Buha. "Through postgame video review in slow-motion replay, we did see that Austin Reaves had his left hand on the ball while it's pinned against his left leg, which does constitute control."

And while you could cynically feel like the officials wouldn't admit to making a high-profile mistake, a Reddit post does suggest that they were correct.

On the NBA subreddit, user sewsgup shared a synched video showing three different TNT OT cameras. When viewed together, it does appear that James started gesturing and shouting for a timeout before the ball hit the deck. Things are still incredibly tight, but, when combined with the pool report, the call on the floor seems more reasonable.

Social media might not be the perfect barometer, but some Reddit users were swayed by the evidence.

"Damn, maybe it wasn't a bad call after all," Plastic-Dot-9278 wrote. BobJones7861 agreed, writing, "so the call was correct the whole time—I'll take the L and delete my Lakers hate lmao."

It's also worth giving James some credit for making a head-up play during crunch time. His physical gifts may steal the headlines, but his basketball mind made the difference on Tuesday night.