LeBron James news: Minutes drama, AD struggles, refs didn't help

LeBron James news: Aaron Gordon's poster dunk shouldn't have counted

Not a ton went right for the Los Angeles Lakers in their opening night loss to the Denver Nuggets, especially once the second half rolled around. It was a competitive game at various points, but the Nuggets operated as the clearly superior unit all night.

The exclamation point for Denver came with about seven minutes left in the third quarter when Jamal Murray lobbed it up to Aaron Gordon on the fast break. We all know the story at this point. Gordon is one of the best vertical athletes in the sport, and he hammered it through the net with none other than LeBron James in the vicinity.

An opening night poster.

While those caught up in the moment watched Gordon and Murray trot back down the floor, closer inspection of the highlight reveals LeBron motioning to the refs — potentially taking issue with Gordon's dunk.

As it turns out, James was on to something. The refs missed Gordon's hand holding the rim, which should have been ruled offensive interference and no basket.

"It was a bad pass," Murray told reporters after the game. "It was a really bad pass. I was thinking about putting it on myself at the time it was moving up."

Gordon was compensating for an errant lob — and it's still a remarkable feat of athleticism that should slide based on cool points alone — but rules are rules. It probably wouldn't have changed the outcome of the game, but Denver got a shot of adrenaline and a morale boost that should have technically belonged to the Lakers.