Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley was adamant that his turnover in the closing seconds of overtime wasn’t off of him.
“I felt like it was our ball,” Mobley said afterward. “They called it different.”
He was then asked if it was off Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles. Mobley confirmed that Murray-Boyles “hit the ball out.”
The NBA didn’t agree with Mobley’s assessment. Nor did they think that Murray-Boyles fouled Mobley, which it seemed like he did when watching it live.
The league released
its Last Two Minute Report on Game 6 and stated that the ball went off Mobley and that this was ruled correctly on the court.
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The same was true for other controversial calls.
The league ruled that the ball did go off Donovan Mitchell on the late drive by Murray-Boyles. They affirmed the questionable shooting foul to Jamal Shead by Jarrett Allen. They also validated the offensive foul on Dean Wade in overtime that cost the Cavs a possession and allowed Shead to stay in the game.
There were strong arguments that each of those plays should’ve gone the Cavs way. The league didn’t think that.
The report did, however, confirm two missed calls that would’ve benefited Cleveland.
First, the Raptors should’ve been called for a three-second violation with 1:46 remaining in overtime. Murray-Boyles was in the paint for too long without guarding anyone.
If called correctly, the Cavs would’ve gotten a technical free-throw and kept possession of the ball. It’s worth pointing out that James Harden scored on this possession with a jumper that ended up giving the Cavs a brief two-point lead.
The second missed call was a five-second violation with 33 seconds left in overtime. RJ Barrett held onto this for far too long. You could see the referee keeping time was pretty deliberate with his count to say it generously.
This should’ve resulted in Cleveland regaining possession, with a chance to put the game away. Instead, the Raptors ended up with a point after Shead split his two free throws after a shooting foul by Allen.
In the end, the Cavs should’ve had an additional possession and should’ve had an additional free-throw attempt. This is the second time the Last Two Minute Report confirmed late-game calls that influenced the outcome negatively for the Cavs. In Game 4, the review showed that Cleveland should’ve been awarded four additional free throws to Toronto’s one.
The Cavs have no one to blame for this loss but themselves. They were the ones who failed to close out the game late when they had plenty of opportunities to do so. At the same time, it’s fair to acknowledge that if this game had been called correctly, the outcome would have been different, and we wouldn’t be getting ready for a Game 7 on Sunday.
