LeBron James rants at NBA’s replay center for calls, Lakers lose on buzzer-beater, trail Denver 2-0

DENVER (AP) — LeBron James was seeing red after the Los Angeles Lakers watched a golden opportunity slip away.

His frustration wasn’t so much centered on blowing a 20-point lead. Or his late missed 3-pointer that rimmed out with the game tied. Or Jamal Murray’s fadeaway buzzer-beater that gave the Denver Nuggets a 101-99 win over the Lakers in Game 2 of their first-round series Monday night.

James’ anger was more distant — the NBA’s replay center in Secaucus, New Jersey. At the heart of his wrath was a second-half foul of Michael Porter Jr. that was overturned with the league saying MPJ had made only marginal contact on D’Angelo Russell.

“I don’t understand what’s going on in the replay center, to be honest,” said James, whose team heads back to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday facing a 2-0 deficit. “D-Lo clearly gets hit in the face on the drive. What the (expletive) do we have a replay center ... it doesn’t make sense. It makes no sense. It bothers me.”