Considering that the Lakers beat the Magic in a dramatic game, the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report was destined to be the center of attention the following day.
Well, the results are in and their findings leave a lot to be desired.
For starters, there was a lot of heat brought on Deandre Ayton. He had three calls that the league claims they missed that would’ve negatively impacted the Lakers.
According to the NBA, he should’ve been called for a three-second violation on two separate occasions and a foul
call on Tristan da Silva in the final seconds of the game shouldn’t have been awarded. That foul led to two free throws for Ayton, who unsuccessfully attempted to recreate Austin Reaves’ intentional missed free throw heroics.
However, the biggest question for most was going to be the ruling of Paolo Banchero’s foul on LeBron James’ game-tying layup attempt.
Well, they claim it wasn’t even a foul, stating he made initial hand-on-ball contact first and that any incidental contact occurred after the block.
The video they shared doesn’t exactly give a great look to agree with them, and regardless, Paolo slapped LeBron’s entire arm, so it’s hard to understand how even the day after that’s still not a foul.
This isn’t the first time the Lakers have received confusing officiating information.
Earlier this season, the NBA clarified that it’s not a goaltend if a player extends their entire hand through the net while a shot is being taken.
The only good news the Lakers got from this Last Two Minute Report is that LeBron didn’t touch the ball last on a late out-of-bounds play.
The NBA even brought out the Hawk-Eye camera during the initial challenge, which seems to be the LeBron Cam since it’s been used on him a couple of times now during key reviews. While the decision went against LeBron last year in the Lakers-Wolves playoff series, he was on the right side this time.
The NBA’s attempt to aim for transparency and accountability with these reports is a good thing, but there has to be a better way.
Not only does this report fail to change results, but it also leads to a confusing rationale for calls that still feel missed even after extended reviews.
It’s hard to see the point of this if teams on both sides will still be upset and unsatisfied with the ruling and reviews after the fact, even after the NBA has tried to clarify things.
The only solace Lakers fans have is that they still ultimately won the game, so it’s best to read the report, shake your head and move on.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
