To no surprise, the NBA acknowledged a series of blown calls in the closing seconds of Saturday’s game at Barclays Center between the Houston Rockets and Brooklyn Nets, who emerged victorious.
The officiating mistakes were clarified in the league’s official Last Two Minutes (L2M) report, which is automatically issued the next day for all games at or within three points during last two minutes of a fourth quarter (and overtime period, when applicable).
The most visible error occurred with 5.0 seconds left, when the Rockets trailed, 103-102, and Jalen Green tied up Brooklyn’s Cam Thomas for what appeared to be a jump ball. Instead, the officials called Green for a foul, and Thomas sank both free throws to put the Nets up by three. Houston’s broadcast crew was incredulous.
However, the L2M report also cited two mistakes in the final seconds that the league says went in Houston’s direction. Before that jump ball, the NBA says Amen Thompson should have been called for an away-from-the-play foul versus Thomas prior to the inbound pass. That would have given sent Brooklyn to the free-throw line, up one.
Finally, with 3.8 seconds left in the game, the report says Fred VanVleet should have been called for a lane violation when he intentionally missed his second of two free throws, which occurred with Houston trailing by two points. “VanVleet steps over the free-throw line before the shot touches the backboard,” the report reads.
Had that been whistled, Brooklyn would have received possession of the ball, leading by two points. Without the whistle, the Nets ended up being called for a loose ball foul against Alperen Sengun on the rebound sequence. Sengun then had an opportunity to tie the game, but he missed one of two free throws, and the Nets held on to win.
The L2M report confirms that Green did not foul Thomas when he seemed to force a jump ball. Thomas made both FTs. Moments earlier, Thompson got away with a foul before his steal and 3 to cut Nets lead to 1 with 7.1 left. VanVleet got away with a lane violation on his missed FT. https://t.co/SepaHktU8I
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) January 28, 2024
The complete L2M report for Saturday’s game is available here. Videos of the three disputed calls are posted below.