Wednesday night’s NBA action saw a pair of wild finishes with some controversial officiating mixed in. Game 7 of the Rockets-Thunder series left Chris Paul upset with Scott Foster’s officiating — most notably a delay of game he was assessed — but the first game featured the most debate about calls on the floor that determined the outcome.
The last minute of the Bucks-Heat Game 2 was wild, with questionable calls and no-calls that culminated in Jimmy Butler hitting a game-winning free throw with 0.0 on the clock. The final four possessions saw Butler get trapped in the corner with no foul called for contact, turning and throwing the ball back to his own basket (with his foot hitting out of bounds before he let go of the ball), which led to a Brook Lopez layup to cut the lead to two.
After splitting free throws, the Bucks got the ball to Khris Middleton who got three free throws of his own on a foul called on Goran Dragic, which was a very close call that Doris Burke disagreed vehemently with on the broadcast. Middleton hit all three free throws to tie it, but Butler earned his last two free throws on a similarly questionable foul on Giannis Antetokounmpo who touched him on the side after the ball was released but before Butler landed.
The calls left a bad taste in the mouths of many, including players watching from home or their hotel room, but on Thursday, the league confirmed those two plays were called correctly — and three mistakes were made on the Butler trap play that preceded them.
NBA affirms the final two foul calls in Miami-Milwaukee in Last 2 Minutes report pic.twitter.com/c6Fsbfez8T
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) September 3, 2020
The gripe, I think, for most was the soft nature of both fouls given the situation, as both were minor contact that sometimes is let go. Still, that the Butler trap play had three errors — a foul, George Hill touching the ball while out of bounds, and then Butler stepping out of bounds — it all should have been negated. If there is good news to all of this, there wasn’t one call that was wrong and another right that effected the outcome, because the only missed calls would’ve led to a likely Heat win anyways.