LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers gave fans one of the best games to start the 2026-27 regular season, with Damian Lillard, Deni Avdija, and Ja Morant taking on Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler in a battle of the unbeatens.

While the game featured some high-level shot-making down the stretch capped off by Lillard's signature “Dame Time” celebration, it was nearly overshadowed by some questionable officiating calls.

After 43 minutes of free throw-filled hoops, the officiating crew made the puzzling decision to start calling flopping technical fouls in what was a one possession game.

Blazers forward Toumani Camara received the first one with 5:06 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Blazers leading 118-116. That was followed up by a technical foul on Ja Morant with 3:49 remaining in a one-point BLazers lead and a technical foul on Lakers' Ziaire Williams 13 seconds later in a three-point Blazers lead.

“It's great,” head coach Micah Nori said when asked about the technical fouls. “There was 27 flops called last year in the NBA in basically 2,000 games total. And four of them were called tonight. Good job by the NBA, it's a point of emphasis, great job.”

When media members in the room began to chuckle, Nori clarified that he was serious and not at all taking a swipe at the league.

“No, it was a point of emphasis! And they called it.” he added. “And they also called for 70 free throws. We almost got past 2AM on the East coast.”

Morant, who was hit with arguably the most questionable flopping technical of the night, says he didn't try to argue with the officials about his technical, but wanted an understanding what he did that was egregious to warrant a technical foul.

“They just said I flopped and I mean, we're just trying to get an understanding,” Morant said after the win. “We try to play defense here legally and we had to switch up. One you switch something up and something like that happens, you gotta ask questiosn tos e how you can be better. i guess they thought that I was trying to argue that i didn't flop but I was pretty much saying I just showed my hands and took the bump in the chest. It aint like I feel, I just kept going backwards, but it is what it is. I'll try to appeal it. I think that's like $2,000 [fine], so uh uh.”

Damian Lillard, who hit the dagger with just under 43 seconds remaining, was also puzzled by the calls made the NBA's officiating crew in what was a one possession game every time a flopping technical was assessed in the 4th.

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“I mean I felt like they were forcing it,” Lillard added after the Blazers victory. “It's a lot of plays in an NBA game where you see guys embellish a play, you know, they try to sell it a little bit, but I think it should be significant. Like a bad flop for them to call it when the game is being decided. They called one one Ja in a one possession [game]. If it's not a crazy flop, you shouldn't call that when the game is kind of going back and forth in a one possession game. We know that it's something that's been a point of emphasis, but I was surprised that they just kept calling it the way that they did.”

On the night, both teams combined for 52 fouls called and 71 free throws attempted, which made the 8PM PST NBC game a long night for everyone involved.

The Blazers improved to 4-0 with the victory thanks to a complete effort from their team. Portland saw six players score in double-figures, led by Ja Morant's 23 points, Deni Avdija's 23 points, Jrue Holiday's 22 points, and Damian Lillard's 21 points. Together, they were able to overcome the Lakers star guard duo of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, who combined for 67 points and 16 assists in the loss.

Up next for Portland is a home contest against the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night.