The league is sticking with their initial ruling.
As they do for every close game, the NBA released their Last 2 Minute Report for Wednesday night’s NBA Cup quarterfinals matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets. That game, if you missed it, was a 91-90 victory for the Rockets, but it was covered in controversy. Jonathan Kuminga was called for a loose ball foul with 3.5 seconds remaining, the Warriors leading by one point, and the ball 80 feet from Houston’s basket. It was the type of call you never see made, and Steve Kerr was rightfully incensed after the game.
The Last 2 Minute Report covers, as the name suggests, the final two minutes of the game, with the refs reviewing all the calls and non-calls to determine which were called (or non-called) accurately. Despite the controversy, the NBA is sticking with their ruling, labeling Kuminga’s late foul of Jalen Green a correct call, and noting that, “Kuminga (GSW) reaches over Green (HOU) in an attempt to get to the ball and pulls his shoulder down.”
This is not surprising. By the letter of the law, nearly every single loose ball scrum results in a foul. The Warriors’ argument against the call is not that it was a play without contact, but rather that it’s a play that’s made over and over again without a whistle.
Interestingly, the league also labeled the loose ball chaos from a few seconds prior as a correct non-call, noting that, “VanVleet (HOU) makes clean contact with the ball as Payton II (GSW) makes the pass.”
Videos are linked to each play in the report, and I’ve got to say … I am trying to remove any bias here but I truly do not understand how one of those plays is a foul and the other is not.
The league also ruled that Brandin Podziemski’s three at the buzzer, which was partially blocked, was correctly not called a foul.
That said, the Last 2 Minute Report did uncover a pair of missed calls, with one benefitting each team. Against the Warriors, the league determined that Golden State should have been whistled for a five-second violation prior to Podziemski’s attempt, as Podziemski did not inbound the ball within the five-second limit. And against the Rockets, the league ruled that, just two seconds before the Warriors were called for a shot clock violation with 1:39 remaining, Dillon Brooks should have been hit with a defensive three-second violation. Needless to say, that would have been a massive call: instead of the Warriors turning the ball over, they would have had a free throw to push the lead to seven, and a reset of the shot clock.
Even though the NBA stands by their call, it will do little to ease the anger of the Warriors or their fanbase. Basketball is the epitome of a sport called on feel rather than by the strict rules (or else everyone would foul out in the first quarter), and it’s hard to find a case that the final seconds were officiated within the spirit, or consistency, of the sport.
Then again, teams that get shut out for the final three minutes of a game rarely get the ball to bounce their way.