Yes, Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell committed a lane violation late in their 145-134 overtime win over the Chicago Bulls. That much was made clear in the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report. Despite that fact, Bulls forward Patrick Williams acknowledged he should have done more to box out Mitchell and secure the rebound and the victory.
Simple play
Williams was concise in his answer to the question of what he would have done differently in that pivotal play that led to Mitchell grabbing the offensive rebound and scoring a layup that tied the game up at 130-all to send it to overtime. Mitchell’s game-tying bucket was part of his historic 71-point performance, 13 of which came in the extra session.
“Differently?” Williams replied. “Get the rebound.”
Here’s the Donovan Mitchell put back after the intentional miss. The ref at bottom of screen is so intent on starting the clock he isn’t watching for Mitchell violating the free throw line before the ball hits anything. This cost the Bulls the game. pic.twitter.com/vMfRZ8MedS
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) January 3, 2023
Williams went on to explain that the play was as simple as it could be, with Mitchell having a two-step head start on him, but he still should have been able to get the rebound.
“That one was on me,” Williams explained. “Quite honestly, there really isn’t a lot of technicality with it. It’s just go get the ball. A lot of times, down the stretch, it’s not really something that you can draw up or kind of predetermine. It’s just kind of, go get it.”
“Try to look and see where he was gonna miss it at. A lot of times they miss it either left or right, or sometimes they miss it to the front where people can just get it, go back up. Really, as soon as I looked up, he was gone. I put that one on me,” the Bulls forward added.
Not blaming the referees
Despite the crushing missed non-call, Williams understands that there is no use in blaming the referees for not making the call and instead should take responsibility for his own shortcomings.
“I know a lot of times, their whistle always gets a little short, sometimes they swallow it, sometimes they don’t want to be the ones that make or break the game,” Williams said. “It was definitely a tough situation to put the ref in. But I gotta get the rebound.”
Source: yardbarker.com
