LeBron James' heart was broken after a last-second loss Monday night, but his mouth sure worked fine -- as he spent part of his postgame meeting with media members railing on NBA officiating.
Shortly after LBJ's Lakers blew a huge lead and lost to the Nuggets, 101-99, in Denver ... James fielded questions about the playoff L for several minutes.
Eventually, he was asked about how tough it will be to bounce back from the buzzer-beater defeat -- but instead of answering the inquiry, he decided to go off on some of the calls that were made during the game.
Specifically, he was livid that officials overturned a foul on Michael Porter Jr. -- despite replay appearing to show he hit D'Angelo Russell in the head following a shot attempt.
MPJ called for a foul here.... #LALvsDEN pic.twitter.com/dUHNIh9wnL
— Rate the Refs App (@Rate_the_Refs) April 23, 2024
"D-Lo clearly gets hit in the face on a drive," an annoyed James said into a microphone, "what the f*** do we have a replay center if this is going to go -- it doesn't make sense to me."
"Makes no sense to me," he added. "It bothers me."
James said it wasn't just an issue for his L.A. squad -- he said he noticed it happened in the Sixers vs. Knicks playoff contest earlier Monday evening too.
"What are we doing?" James said.
LeBron -- who tallied 26 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists in the loss -- then put the mic down and walked away from the dais.
Anthony Davis: "Jamal Murray made a shot." pic.twitter.com/jsiYMmSa8p
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 23, 2024
Other Lakers weren't pleased as well -- Russell took to X to write of the overturned call, "That's a foul we all saw it on national television." Anthony Davis, meanwhile, didn't openly criticize the refs -- though it was easy to see he seemed to want to.
L.A. is now down 0-2 in the series -- but it will have a chance to get back in the win column at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night ... even if some of its players' wallets are a little lighter following some fines for their officiating comments.