In news that is surprising to nobody, NBA officials got a call wrong in the Portland Trail Blazers / Miami Heat game in which Portland lost to a Heat roster missing its most important players. Slightly
more surprising: officials admitted they got one wrong.
In the NBA Officials’ Last Two Minute (L2M) report for last night’s game
, there was but one single incorrect call with 28 seconds left in the game off a Blazers miss trailing the Heat by five:Powell (MIA) clamps and holds Avdija’s (POR) left arm, which affects his ability to pursue the rebound.
Would this foul have changed the outcome of the game? Probably not.
Even if it had been called and Portland made both free throws, Miami up three with the ball with just over a shot clock’s worth of time left would be firmly in the driver’s seat. And even if you did want to blame the officials for the loss – which I cannot bear to do given Miami didn’t play Bam Adebayo or Tyler Herro – an esteemed colleague of ours at Blazer’s Edge said it best: “The true crimes occurred before that,” with “that” being the last two minutes of the game covered in these reports.
What do you think? Would you someday want to scour a “Last 48 Minutes Report” and get a chance to evaluate every call and non-call that happens during an NBA game? The sicko in me says “yes,” but the permanently aggrieved Blazers fan in me… also says “yes.”
