When Austin Reaves was about to turnover the ball and LeBron James saved the Lakers with a critical timeout, Suns supporters were furious.

In December, teams competed with playoff fervor for the NBA In-Season Tournament. The Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns demonstrated this same caliber of play on Tuesday night in the tournament’s quarterfinals. The Lakers and Suns traded baskets in the fourth quarter, but Austin Reaves sealed the deal with a game-winning triple to give the Lakers a 106-103 victory and their ticket to Vegas.

That being said, there was plenty of drama surrounding the Lakers’ victory. The Lakers elected to promptly inbound the ball to Reaves after Kevin Durant made a basket to reduce the Suns’ deficit to two points. Reaves backed into Devin Booker because he was obviously anticipating an intentional foul, but the referee did not sound the whistle. After losing his footing, the 25-year-old guard appeared to be able to wrench the ball out and tie the game.

LeBron James, though, made the alert play to request a timeout, which referee Tom Washington approved, while Austin Reaves was in disarray. The only issue was that, much to the ire of Lakers supporters on social media, James appeared to have already passed the ball when he gestured for a timeout.

Suns supporters were furious because they think the league wants LeBron James, the golden boy, to be deep in the NBA In-Season Tournament in order to generate excitement for the events.

“NBA going to present LBJ and the Lakers with their first In-Szn “Cup”… Suns were recovering a lost ball when LBJ called a timeout, negating Reaves’ backcourt turnover. abhorrent! A fan wrote. Another wrote, “The league has to be rigged. Despite Austin Reaves’ obvious lack of control when the ball nearly falls, the Lakers request a timeout. 

Some were harsher on the Lakers, pointing out that if Darvin Ham had just utilized one of his timeouts to move the ball forward, Austin Reaves wouldn’t have needed to get to that precarious situation in the first place.

It doesn’t seem like the Lakers should have been given that timeout, but Bron saved Ham. One fan said, “I don’t even know why Reaves didn’t pass it to AD right in front of him.”

Unfortunately, what’s done is done, and the Lakers will now travel to Vegas to play the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA In-Season Tournament semifinals.