An official review wasn't needed for one singular fact Friday night: The Lakers lost a tough game.

They overcame a 16-point deficit and took a late lead over the Clippers, but lost momentum in the final minute after a lengthy official review that didn't favor the Lakers.

It added up to a 105-102 loss to the Clippers on Friday at Crypto.com Arena.

In the grander scheme, it hurt the Lakers (27-32) in a couple of ways. They fell 2.5 games behind the Clippers for eighth place in the Western Conference. They also lost the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Clippers after dropping to 0-3 against them in the regular-season series.

In the immediate aftermath, the Lakers were more irritated about how the game ended.

LeBron James appeared to secure an offensive rebound after Russell Westbrook missed a short pull-up jumper with 25.8 seconds left and the Lakers down a point.

But referees looked at the play for more than eight minutes, with help from the league office in New York, before ruling that James stepped out of bounds after taking the rebound. The Clippers got the ball.

Lakers Coach Frank Vogel was animated afterward when asked about the stoppage in play.

"I disagree strongly with the ruling. I think it's total B.S.," he said. "I couldn't disagree more strongly with the ruling."

Vogel argued that the referees' whistle didn't initially blow after James stepped out of bounds, but only after Clippers forward Robert Covington was called for an out-of-bounds violation of his own a couple of seconds later.

Additionally, Vogel said James probably got pushed out of bounds by the Clippers in the first place.

The long review "definitely impacted the moment," James said. "I pretty much knew that it wasn't going in our favor by the [length of] time they were over there," looking at replays.

Despite it all, the Lakers had a chance to tie the game twice in the final seconds, but Carmelo Anthony was well short on a 28-foot three-point shot, and James missed a turnaround heave from the corner as time expired.

Anthony appeared to rush his shot, lofting it up with four seconds left to play — an eternity in NBA end-of-game situations.

"I shot it short. My leg wasn't underneath me," said Anthony, who hadn't played in three weeks because of a strained hamstring. "I'll take that same shot any night."

"I trust 'Melo in that spot but we didn't convert," Vogel said. 

Lakers big man Anthony Davis missed his first game since suffering a sprained right foot. He's sidelined at least three more weeks (or roughly 10 more games) before being re-evaluated.

Dwight Howard took his place in the starting lineup and had 14 points and 16 rebounds. He had a double-double before halftime and provided at least a glimmer of hope from the center position as long as Davis remains sidelined.

Howard wasn't the only lineup change for the Lakers. Rookie Austin Reaves got the first start of his NBA career and finished with six points.

James scored only 21 points and ended his pursuit of a record-setting Lakers scoring streak. He'd scored 25 or more points in 23 consecutive games before Sunday, falling one game short of tying Elgin Baylor for the longest such streak in Lakers history. Baylor accomplished the feat in 1961.

Despite Davis' absence, the Lakers weren't the more short-handed team. The Clippers (31-31) continue to go without Kawhi Leonard, who hasn't played this season because of a knee injury, and Paul George, who has been sidelined since December because of an elbow injury.

They still had Terance Mann (19 points) and Luke Kennard (18 points), not to mention just enough luck down the stretch.

The Lakers now have to worry about a team below them in the standings with a home game Sunday against New Orleans. The Pelicans trail the Lakers by 3.5 games in the West. The teams play each other two more times after Sunday.