It is hardly unexpected that the highly anticipated game between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors on Thursday resulted in an instant classic. The number of bad calls the referees made in the closing two minutes of play has emerged as a stunning revelation following Boston’s 121-118 overtime triumph. The Dubs and Stephen Curry won’t appreciate this at all.
According to the NBA’s official Last 2-Minute report, there was a total of six officiating errors in the dying moments of the game. All but one of them favored the Celtics, and it goes without saying that this game could have turned out very differently if only the refs got their calls right.
For starters, the game officials missed two 3-second violations against the Celtics. They also missed a foul call committed by Malcolm Brogdon on Jordan Poole with 1:46 remaining on the clock. This would have been a shooting foul too, which should have given Poole two free throws.
At the 1:02 mark in overtime, Klay Thompson fouled out after being whistled for his sixth and final foul against Jaylen Brown. As it turns out, this was an officiating mistake as well. Thompson should have stayed in the game, and this would have almost certainly made a significant impact on the final minute of play.
Perhaps the biggest missed call of the evening, however, came in the form of the game officials missing a 24-second shot clock violation on Al Horford with 06.3 seconds remaining. This would have given the Dubs possession of the ball with ample time to go for a game-tying triple with the final possession. Instead, the refs let the game play on, which eventually led to Poole forcing up a half-court heave that wasn’t even close.
As a bit of a consolation for the Dubs, the final incorrect call of the evening was how the refs gave ball possession to the Warriors in the final 3.0 seconds. The L2M report indicates that the ball was last touched by Draymond Green — and not Al Horford — which means that Poole shouldn’t have had the chance to attempt a last-second shot in the first place.
At the end of the day, these are the breaks of the game. However, there’s no denying that the Warriors are going to be pissed once they realize how badly the refs messed this game up.
Source: https://clutchpoints.com
