The NBA released its Last Two Minute Report for Saturday night’s games on Sunday afternoon, and while I’d normally save this for tomorrow’s pre-game news and notes, something tells me people will want to see this sooner than later. The L2M for the Toronto Raptors’ two-point loss to the Golden State Warriors shows the following:
- 1:45 – Incorrect non-call, David West should have been called for Defensive 3 Second
- 1:24 – Incorrect non-call, Fred VanVleet should have been called for a foul on Kevin Durant
- 0:12 – Incorrect non-call, C.J. miles should have been called for a travel
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0VgTLjyvQo
- 0:45 – Correct call, Jakob Poeltl did foul Steph Curry
- “Poeltl (TOR) makes contact to Curry’s (GSW) body that affects his driving shot attempt.”
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(Via R/NBA)
- 0:07 – Correct non-call, Kevin Durant did not touch the ball while out of bounds
- “While a correct no-call, it is worth noting that this aspect of the out-of-bounds play was not a reviewable matter or considered in the review decision since it occurred prior to the actual call and deemed to be part of a separate sequence. “
- 0:03 – Correct call, out-of-bounds off DeRozan’s leg before Curry knocks it out
- “After communicating with the Replay Center, the ruling on the floor of Raptors possession is overturned and the Warriors are awarded possession because the ball touches DeRozan’s (TOR) leg while his body is out of bounds before Curry (GSW) knocks the ball out. Referees were able to review two aspects of this out-of-bounds play since they were part of the same sequence.”
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Late last night, Joe Borgia, the NBA’s senior VP of replay and referee operations, issued this (mostly unhelpful) explanation to Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post:
Instant replay review was used because the officials were unsure who should be awarded possession after the ball went out of bounds. During replay, we checked the loose ball sequence at the sideline and we determined that Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan caused the ball to go out of bounds with three seconds remaining. The Warriors were awarded the ball and the clock was reset to three seconds.
You can find the Raptors’ comments on the late-game officiating here. DeMar DeRozan might get hit with a fine.
As always, it’s hard to blame any one call or play for swinging a game that lasts 48 minutes and roughly 200 possessions. Things happen, and while every fan base occasionally feels slighted, previous studies have shown that this stuff mostly evens out, statistically, in the longer-run. I don’t begrudge anyone for being upset about it, in the moment or after the fact. It’s probably not some grand conspiracy. It is disappointing, though.
