Austin Reaves had the highest-scoring playoff game of his career on Thursday night and still couldn’t get out of Oklahoma City without a confrontation. The Los Angeles Lakers guard dropped 31 points in a 125-107 loss that put his team in a 2-0 hole.
But by the time the buzzer sounded, basketball was secondary. It was Reaves, who stayed on court instead of heading to the locker room with his teammates, walking straight at crew chief John Goble. His postgame comments later filled in why.
What Austin Reaves Said About His Confrontation With John Goble
For Reves, the trigger was a reversal of a call. With 5:53 left and Thunder leading 107-94, officials initially whistled a loose-ball foul on Jaylin Williams for tugging Jaxson Hayes’ shorts under the basket.
On review, it was changed to a double foul. The Lakers lost possession, and the sequence went to a jump ball at center court instead.
While players were rotating into position before the toss, Reaves said Goble crossed a line.
“I felt like I was respectful to all of them all night. I mean, there’s a million times in the past I’ve said way worse stuff,” Reaves said. “And when we were doing the whole jump ball when [the Thunder players] were switching spots, I wanted to get on the other side because they had a guy on the other side, was just trying to keep an advantage. And he [Goble] turned around and just yelled in my face. I just thought it was disrespectful.”
Austin Reaves says the ref was DISRESPECTFUL to him & yelled in his face
Such a terrible look for the NBA… Let the players decide the gamepic.twitter.com/3gJ23aqxe9
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) May 8, 2026
He kept the same energy after the final buzzer, with Luka Dončić eventually pulling him away from the official.
“At the end of the day, we’re grown men. And I just didn’t feel like he needed to yell in my face like that. I told him that. I wasn’t disrespectful. I told him if I did that to him first, I would have got a tech. I feel like the only reason I didn’t get a tech is because he knew he was in the wrong. So, yeah, I just felt disrespected.”
Austin Reaves is absolutely FURIOUS at the ref:
“That’s some bullsh*t for you to talk to me like that…Pus*y.” 😳
(via @JoelXLorenzi, h/t @LADEig)
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 8, 2026
The Thunder won the jump after the timeout. Cason Wallace drilled a three, and the lead never dipped below 12 the rest of the way.
How JJ Redick Backed His Players and Tore Into the Officiating
JJ Redick didn’t try to put his guard back in the box. The Lakers’ head coach picked up his own technical foul with 1:26 left in the first quarter for going off on referee Ben Taylor. By the time the press conference rolled around, Redick was direct.
“I sarcastically said the other day, they’re the most disruptive team without fouling,” Redick said. “I mean, they have a few guys that foul on every possession. They’re hard enough to play. They’re hard enough to play, you’ve got to be able to just call them if they foul, and they do foul.”
Then Redick went after the whistle on his main star, King James.
“LeBron has the worst whistle of any star player I’ve ever seen,” Redick said. “I’ve been with him two years now. The smaller guys, because they can be theatric, they typically draw more fouls, and the bigger players that are built like LeBron, it’s hard for them. He gets clobbered. He got clobbered again tonight a bunch.”
LeBron James averaged 5.3 free throw attempts per game in the regular season. He has five total free throws across the first two games of this series.
When asked about this after the game, James could only offer one line: “We’re down 2-0,” before adding “I don’t know” when asked why his coach feels the way he does.
The official foul count tells its own story. The Lakers were called for 26 fouls. The Thunder were called for 21. Oklahoma City attempted 26 free throws to LA’s 21.
Reaves shot 10-of-16 to finish with 31 and six assists. James added 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting with six assists, and Rui Hachimura had 16 on 6-of-10. The Thunder still won by 18 for the second straight game.
Game 3 tips off Saturday at 5:30 p.m. PT at Crypto.com Arena.
