Ja Morant will appeal his flopping technical as the Blazers rip three flop calls in six minutes

Ja Morant plans to appeal the flopping technical he was called for late in Portland's 136-129 win over the Lakers on Tuesday night, and the Trail Blazers' coach and their best-known veteran both took shots at how the game was called.

Three flopping technicals were handed out in the final six minutes, to Morant, Blazers forward Toumani Camara and Lakers forward Ziaire Williams, ESPN reported. The teams shot 71 free throws between them.

Morant's came with Portland up 121-120 inside the last four minutes. Austin Reaves drove on him, Morant took a bump to the chest and staggered backward with both arms in the air, and the whistle went against him.

"I just showed my hands and took a bump in my chest," Morant said, according to ESPN. "It ain't like I fell. I just kept going backwards. It is what it is. I'll try to appeal it. I think it's like a $2,000 [fine]."

He said the Blazers had changed how they defended drives because so many of the Lakers' free throws were coming that way. "We tried to adjust to just show our hands and take the bump in our chest to show [the referees that the Lakers] initiated the contact," he said. "But we were still on the short end of the stick."

Coach Micah Nori pointed out that there were "27 flops called last year in 2,000 games total."

"Good job by the NBA," Nori said. "Point of emphasis. Great job. There were [71] free throws. We almost got past 2 a.m. on the East Coast for the [end of the] game."

Damian Lillard, who iced the win with a late 3, said the officials were "forcing" the calls.

"I think it should be significant, like a bad flop, for them to call it when the game is being decided," Lillard said. "If it's not a crazy flop, you shouldn't call that when the game is back and forth in a one-possession game. We know it's a point of emphasis, but I was surprised they just kept calling it the way they did."

Morant scored a season-high 23 points. Portland is 3-0 and hosts Memphis on Thursday.