The film has been reviewed.
The Golden State Warriors had their biggest win of the year on Tuesday night, beating the Memphis Grizzlies 134-125 on the road to leapfrog Memphis and take over the fifth spot in the Western Conference standings. It was a game defined by star performances: Steph Curry dropped in 52 for the Dubs, while Jimmy Butler III had arguably his best game as a Warrior, and Draymond Green notched a triple-double. On the other side, Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Desmond Bane all showed why they are among the league’s best players.
After every close game in the NBA, the film is reviewed. And no, not just by our own Joe Viray, though I recommend that you read his tremendous film breakdown of Tuesday’s action.
It’s also reviewed by the league in the daily Last 2 Minute Report, which looks at every play from the final two minutes of every close game. After poring over the film, the league determines whether all the calls were made accurately, and also checks to see if the non-calls were correctly left alone.
And for Golden State’s big win? The league determined that there’s no controversy. The whistle was blown six times in the final two minutes, with the league deciding that it was the correct call all six times. The refs also identified 12 instances where a non-call needed to be reviewed, and determined that the whistle was correctly swallowed each time. Hooray for no controversy!
The biggest call came just seconds into the final two minutes. With 1:55 remaining in the game, Butler baited Jackson — who at the time had five fouls — into leaving his feet on a pump fake. Butler then went up and drew contact, earning a trip to the free throw line and fouling Jackson out of the game. While Butler was clearly trying to get Jackson to commit a sixth foul, the league determined that he did so very legally, which always seemed to be the case. Here’s how they described the play:
Jackson Jr. (MEM) jumps from point A to point B into Butler III’s (GSW) body, affecting his shot attempt near the rim.
A win is a win is a win … but it’s also nice when there’s no controversy surrounding it.