The Golden State Warriors punched their ticket to the playoffs on Tuesday night, beating the Memphis Grizzlies 121-116 in a dramatic play-in tournament game, and booking a first-round date with the Houston Rockets in the process.
It was a dramatic and exciting game, and one that had its fair share of controversy. especially in the final minutes. So needless to say, I was very curious to see the NBA’s Last 2 Minute Report for the game. As they do for all close games, the NBA combed through every moment of action in the final two minutes of Tuesday’s game, using multiple camera angles to determine whether a call (or non-call) was made correctly or incorrectly.
To the surprise of no one, the league determined that the refs got plenty wrong as the game came to a close. In fact, they found a whopping four plays that were missed calls, with two hurting the Warriors and two hurting the Grizzlies.
Most notably — and not surprisingly — the NBA admitted that Brandin Podziemski should have been awarded with a highlight block for his meet-me-at-the-rim transition defense against Scotty Pippen Jr. The foul gave Pippen a pair of free throws with 37 seconds remaining and the Grizzlies trailing by four. Jimmy Butler III had clear possession of the rebound after Podziemski’s block, meaning the Warriors would have had the ball had it been called correctly.
Here’s the NBA’s next-day assessment:
Podziemski (GSW) makes contact with the ball during Pippen Jr.’s (MEM) shot attempt near the basket and any ensuing contact once the ball becomes loose is considered incidental.
It wasn’t the only missed call involving a Pippen shot attempt. With 1:29 remaining and the Warriors up five, Pippen drove to the rim and was stripped by Draymond Green as he awkwardly put up a layup attempt that missed. No whistle was blown, but the league believes that one should have been.
Green (GSW) reaches in and makes illegal contact with Pippen Jr.’s (MEM) wrist after his gather during the driving shot attempt.
That one evened out quickly, though. As Pippen’s missed layup hung on the rim, center Zach Edey grabbed the ball and dunked it through, cutting the lead to three. But, upon closer inspection, the NBA realized that Edey should have been whistled for offensive goaltending.
Edey (MEM) makes contact with the ball while it is in the imaginary cylinder above the rim.
The final missed call came very late. With the Warriors up by just one point in the closing seconds, they inbounded the ball to Steph Curry, who tried to dribble out some of the clock before taking a foul. Ja Morant poked the ball away from Curry, with the ball ricocheting out of bounds with 7.3 seconds remaining.
At the time, it felt like the unspoken rule where the team on defense probably committed a foul, and the ball probably went off the team on offense, so the refs split the middle and don’t call a foul but give the ball to the team that had it.
The league disagreed, though. They did not believe that Morant fouled Curry when poking the ball away, and determined that the ball should have been given to Memphis.
After Morant (MEM) reaches in and makes contact with the ball, it touches Curry’s (GSW) hand last before going out of bounds. Possession is awarded to Golden State, but should have been awarded to Memphis.
Perhaps most fascinating, however, is a call that the league decided was made correctly: Kevon Looney’s foul on Edey with 14.3 seconds remaining. I’ve watched the play a lot of times and I’ll admit it: I have no idea what the league is seeing.
Here’s their description:
Looney (GSW) initiates contact across Edey’s (MEM) arm, affecting his ability to control the rebound.
You be the judge.
