It seems the officials did indeed botch a critical call in the waning seconds of the Boston Celtics‘ loss to the Indiana Pacers on Monday night, though likely not on the one most were looking at as the incorrect one.
The controversial overturning of a play initially ruled a foul on Indiana’s Buddy Hield as he made contact with Jaylen Brown’s head in the final seconds of the game but changed to a fair block on review was deemed the correct call by the NBA’s last two minute report released Tuesday afternoon. But another play shortly afterward was instead ruled an incorrect call, leading to the same sort of end to a game one never wants to see as a fan or a bettor.
That would be the play that saw Kristaps Porzingis pick up a foul just seconds later on Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin, leading to two shots for Indiana that likely sealed the win for the Pacers.
New episode of the Celtics Lab Podcast ☘️🧪🎧
First: Breaking down a fun slate of January games for the C’s
Later: Cameron chats with WNBA star Brionna Jones about the Connecticut Sun’s upcoming game in Boston
Sponsored by: @FDSportsbook https://t.co/qlcwoASiPA
— Celtics Lab Podcast (@CelticsLab) January 9, 2024
Regarding the reversed call vs. Brown, the report stated that Hield “clearly shows that Hield reaches forward and makes contact with the ball from behind Brown.”
“While in contact with the ball, Hield also makes minimal contact with Brown’s head, and on review that contact was correctly deemed incidental. As the rulebook makes clear, the mere fact that contact occurs does not necessarily constitute a foul; contact which is incidental to an effort by a player to defend an opponent, reach a loose ball, or perform normal defensive or offensive movements is not considered illegal.”
The other play in question, however, saw the report reach a different conclusion.
Pacers' Buddy Hield admits he thought he fouled Jaylen Brown in controversial Indy win https://t.co/ryxkte5kHB pic.twitter.com/9n2csvmkOM
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 9, 2024
That play, with 0.6 seconds left, saw Porzingis “above the ball” as he “legally contests Mathurin’s … shot attempt, with some incidental arm contact occurring concurrent with the block.”
Consistent, at least, with the other ruling, even a positive outcome in-game would have left the Celtics with as much or a fractional amount more than they were granted after the foul shots were completed. Not enough barring a miracle to score even if they had defended the Pacers successfully.
Leaving the moral of the story here as with so many other nights to not leave one’s team in a position to have the game decided by the outcome of a referee’s call in the first place.
Even longtime Celtics nemesis LeBron James thinks Buddy Hield fouled Jaylen Brown https://t.co/o0uroGVQG4 pic.twitter.com/slMAgbMf3C
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) January 9, 2024
Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ
