Everything About the Lakers Getting Screwed Against the Celtics Is Hilarious

There is no way around it-- the Los Angeles Lakers got completely screwed last night against the Boston Celtics. The officiating was offensively terrible throughout the game for both sides and culminated in a beautiful final sequence. With the game tied and the clock winding down, LeBron James drove to the rim and was obviously fouled, yet did not get a whistle. The shot missed, the game went to overtime, and the Lakers lost.

Now, if you are a Lakers fan, it probably wasn't very funny. But for everybody else it was very funny indeed, from LeBron's complete meltdown after not getting the call to the quotes from postgame.

I don't know if we've ever seen LeBron flip out this bad on the court outside of when JR Smith forgot how much time was on the clock in the NBA Finals. The sheer drama!

Then, of course, Patrick Beverley earned the greatest technical of all time shortly thereafter.

Anthony Davis decided his bank account could handle the fine and spent his entire postgame interview ripping the referees a new one, which will not sit well with those referees or the NBA. Even if it was justified.

Head coach Darvin Ham's comments were the funniest in terms of the big picture, though. Per ESPN:

Lakers coach Darvin Ham, who normally is reticent to criticize the officiating, also could not deny the impact the refs had on the outcome Saturday.

"As much as you try not to put it on the officiating, it's becoming increasingly difficult," Ham said. "The best player on earth can't get a call. It's amazing."

"[He] plays a strong, physical brand of basketball and just because he doesn't flop or he doesn't fall or he's not screaming when he's shooting the ball, like I see a ton of other players doing, he gets penalized for it," Ham said. "I saw the same thing with Giannis [Antetokounmpo]. I saw the same thing when I was a player in the Shaq [O'Neal] era. Those guys that play physical and really try to focus on finishing plays, sometimes it doesn't go in their favor. But then you see other guys whimpering on every shot or every time they get bumped ... and they are the ones getting the whistles."

So you're telling me that the Lakers are trying to push this victim narrative and LeBron James, of all people, cannot buy a call? LeBron James does not flop or exaggerate contact in any way? A man universally accepted as one of the two greatest players in league history gets no respect from the referees? Are we living on the same planet as these people?

This is not an anti-LeBron or anti-Lakers post. They definitely got screwed in a big way last night and their last four games have featured similar questionable officiating calls. They have a right to complain as much as they did. The refs deserve everything coming their way.

It is just objectively funny that the Lakers, of all teams, are trying to spin this narrative that it's them against the world. That the league is conspiring to prevent the LOS ANGELES LAKERS from winning basketball games. That LeBron James is this victimized superstar who is just trying his best out there but won't get any cooperation from the referees.

If you cannot appreciate the comedy of those concepts, I don't know what to tell you. The Lakers got screwed, yes. Yet there is no conspiracy against them or LeBron. They just got screwed! It happens. The way they are dealing with it is, objectively, funny for everybody else.