As competitive as the Golden State Warriors‘ 121-116 play-in win over the Memphis Grizzlies was, the final couple of minutes were a bit of a slog. Turnovers, missed free throws and fouls abounded — and whenever there are late-game fouls there will inevitably be controversy. It turns out the critics had just cause, as the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report revealed that officials made four crucial incorrect calls down the stretch of the game.
The Warriors appeared to have the win in hand when Stephen Curry made a dagger 3-pointer with a minute left to give Golden State a 117-111 lead. Things didn’t exactly go smoothly from there, however, as the Grizzlies scored five unanswered points to cut the lead to one with 14 seconds left. Four Curry free throws and a costly five-second violation from the Grizzlies sealed the win for the Warriors, who earned the No. 7 seed and a date with the No. 2 Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.
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Given the results of the Last Two Minute Report, the Grizzlies may have a legitimate beef that they should have been in the Warriors’ spot, rather than having to fight for their postseason lives against the winner of Wednesday’s Sacramento Kings-Dallas Mavericks matchup.
Let’s take a look at each of the four incorrect calls.
1:29 – Draymond fouls Pippen
With just under 90 seconds remaining and the Grizzlies trailing by five points, Scotty Pippen Jr. drove to the basket and lost the ball before throwing up a desperation shot that hit the rim and was tipped in by center Zach Edey (more on that later). However, the L2M report states that Draymond Green made “illegal contact with Pippen Jr.’s wrist after his gather,” which should have been called a foul.
The Grizzlies ended up with two points anyway, so what’s the big deal? Well, that foul would have been Green’s sixth, which would have sent him to the bench for the final minute and a half of the game. Instead he got to play another 30 seconds before picking up foul No. 6 with just under a minute remaining.
1:28 – Edey commits goaltending
So, yeah, remember that tip dunk by Edey that cut the Warriors’ lead to three points? It shouldn’t have counted. The L2M report said Edey made “contact with the ball while it is in the imaginary cylinder above the rim,” and thus should have been called for offensive goaltending.
That’s always a difficult call to make in real time with players so far above the rim, but the officials missed this one, potentially making the end of the game much more interesting.
0:37 – Podziemski’s block is clean
The replays weren’t kind to the officials during the broadcast on this play, and it turns out they did, in fact, get it wrong. After picking up a steal, Pippen Jr. raced toward the basket as Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski chased in pursuit. As Pippen Jr. went up for a layup and changed hands in midair, Podziemski timed his jump and swat attempt perfectly, appearing to hit mostly ball. The referees ruled it a foul, however, resulting in two free throws for Pippen Jr.
“Podziemski makes contact with the ball during Pippen Jr.’s shot attempt near the basket,” the Last Two Minute Report stated, “and any ensuing contact once the ball becomes loose is considered incidental.”
Pippen Jr. made one of two free throws to cut the Warriors’ lead back down to three, but the point should have been erased from the board.
0:07 – Ball awarded to wrong team
As Memphis was scrambling to foul with under 10 seconds remaining in a one-point game, Ja Morant reached in on Curry’s dribble and knocked the ball out of bounds. Possession was quickly awarded to Golden State, and you could see Morant on the TV cameras telling the referee that he should have called a foul on the play. Turns out Morant was wrong — and not only was it not a foul, but the ball should have also been given to the Grizzlies.
“After Morant reaches in and makes contact with the ball, it touches Curry’s hand last before going out of bounds,” the Last Two Minute report said. “Possession is awarded to Golden State, but should have been awarded to Memphis.”
This was obviously a critical mistake, as it would have given the Grizzlies the ball with a chance for a go-ahead basket with seven seconds remaining.
In the end, it’s somewhat of a wash since both teams had two calls go against them in the final two minutes, but the game surely would have played out differently had things been officiated correctly.
It’s worth noting that one of the game’s most crucial calls — the five-second violation by the Grizzlies with just over five seconds remaining — was called correctly.
