Max Christie made a big mistake fouling the Thunder when they were in the bonus, but to his credit, the Lakers guard accepted responsibility.
With the Lakers trailing 95-91 against the Thunder on Friday night, L.A. needed a score to keep their hopes of winning alive. Max Christie stepped up in a big way, hitting a turnaround jumper to cut the lead down to two points.
OKC had possession with 39 seconds left, meaning that if Los Angeles could get a stop, they’d have plenty of time to get off a shot and either force overtime or win the game.
Unfortunately, Christie committed a game-sealing blunder by intentionally fouling Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 22 seconds remaining in the game.
Once the whistle blew, it’s as if the realization shocked through Christie’s body that the Thunder were already in the bonus, which meant they would automatically shoot free throws.
Christie put his hands on his head, bewildered by the error. After the game, to his credit, he took full responsibility for this mental lapse.
“Yeah, it was a misinterpretation on my part,” Christie said. “Regardless, I knew the time and score of the game, but I didn’t realize they were in the bonus and I should have known because they were in the bonus for the last three or four minutes. That’s a mental error on my part. I take responsibility for that.”
Lakers coach JJ Redick also discussed the play during his postgame presser, explaining how he was signaling a play call and did not want Christie to commit a foul.
“He looked at me and I gave him the coverage call,” Redick said. “And I guess he interpreted that as a foul, but obviously, I was yelling the coverage call.”
SGA converted on the free throws, giving the Thunder a four-point lead. The Lakers got the ball back, but OKC stole the inbound pass and Jalen Williams slammed it home, ending any hope for an L.A. victory.
The defeat all but eliminated the Lakers from the NBA Cup and while the play is undoubtedly a low point for Christie, he had a good attitude about it after the loss.
“I’m not going to say that my mistake cost us the entire game, but it was definitely probably the biggest one of the game,” Christie said. “So, it is what it is. I got to learn from it.”
This scenario is very similar to when Anthony Davis missed free throws down the stretch vs. the Magic during a close loss earlier in November.
These moments when players fall short during tight games contribute to the result, but they are not the main or only reason the Lakers lost against the Magic or the Thunder.
Remember, in Friday’s matchup versus OKC, L.A. was already trailing, unable to crack the century mark in scoring and got dominated on the offensive glass 15-8.
So yes, the mistake was bad and Christie has no justification for being unaware of the scenario. However, virtually every Laker underperformed against the Thunder, so there is plenty of blame to go around.
This was a grave error by Christie, but he’ll have to shake it off, as the Lakers are relying on him to be a dependable part of the rotation.
This team has no room for self-inflicted mistakes against the best in the West, so he’ll need to be sharper moving forward if L.A. wants to start stacking up wins with what’s left of 2024.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.
