This came down too late to make the practice news and notes, so here we go. I can only imagine the response to this.
The NBA announced Wednesday that Kevin Love’s fourth-quarter elbow to the chin of DeMar DeRozan has been upgraded to a Flagrant 1 after review by the league. On the play in question, DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas tried to dislodge a defensive rebound from Love and Love connects elbow to chops in pretty brutal fashion.
Kevin Love gives DeMar DeRozan a big elbow to the jaw. pic.twitter.com/ScoOpKtxRv
— RealGM (@RealGM) May 2, 2018
At the time of the foul, Dwane Casey was screaming for a review of the play, adamant that it was at least close enough to a flagrant for review. Here’s what he said Wednesday about whether he got an explanation:
Not a good one, not a good one, not a good one. I don’t think they felt like it was a, they said it wasn’t intentional, it was incidental. My thing is let’s review it, that’s why we have a $50 million replay centre, let’s get it right. Nobody’s right or wrong and if they look at it and say ‘Hey, it wasn’t intentional,’ OK, but let’s at least look at it. That’s my thing and I thought that’s why we have the replay centre, so let’s get it right. There’s no excuse for that, we look at a lot less than . . . where the guy has blood and bleeding, so let’s at least go look at it. I’m not saying the officials are right or wrong, but as a league I think we owe it to the players and the fans, that’s why we have the replay centre is to look at it.
The foul occurred with 1:11 left in the fourth and, if called a flagrant, would have given the Raptors two free throws and possession rather than just possession. Considering the Raptors were up two at the time and ultimately went to overtime, that’s a pretty big swing. It is ridiculous it was not reviewed.
However. However. The NBA’s Last Two Minute Report also indicates that the officials missed a foul against DeRozan prior to that elbow, one that would have instead had Cleveland at the line. Love travelled while trying to escape DeRozan’s approach, but a foul takes precedence, as the report explains:
After Love (CLE) secures the rebound, DeRozan (TOR) makes contact with his arms and wraps him up. Love steps with the ball, however when a violation (like a travel) and a foul occur at the same time, the foul will take precedence.
So, working all the way from there, the Raptors maybe don’t have too big an “outcome” gripe since the play should have been whistled dead to Cleveland’s advantage before the elbow. In terms of how a perfectly officiated game would have hypothetically played out, they came out no worse. That’s, uhh, not going to make anyone feel better, I would guess. Because in terms of general management of a game and concern for player safety, there’s still plenty to be bothered by (for any team) by a non-review of clear contact to the head, and a make-up non-call isn’t a great justification.. You have to at the very least review those plays, and the league upgrading this after the fact is a bad look for the officiating crew in a one-point game, however you feel about how it affected the eventual outcome.
The L2M also showed a missed loose-ball foul on DeRozan at 1:36 of overtime, as DeRozan fouled Tristan Thompson fighting for a rebound.
