LaVine’s shot shouldn’t have been counted.
You probably didn’t need this confirmation. But the NBA has admitted an incorrect non-call at the end of the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ loss to the Sacramento Kings. A pivotal layup from Zach LaVine never should have been counted as it was released after the 24-second shot clock had expired.
There are no other mistakes listed on the Last Two Minute Report.
Anyone who watched yesterday’s game would have spent all night fuming at this. It was clear in the moment that LaVine’s shot came after the clock went off. Yet, because the Cavaliers inbounded the ball before the officials had a chance to review the play — the game continued.
It was explained yesterday that the referees are unable to review whether or not the shot came before the clock expired unless they stop the game before the ball is back in play. While you can be upset at the Cavs for rushing the ball inbounds, I don’t think the players are responsible for making sure the refs do their job. This layup attempt from LaVine was clearly close enough to review and should have resulted in an immediate whistle.
There’s no sense in being too hard on the officials. We’ve been venting on this blog for the past 15 hours and won’t let it linger longer than that. The Cavaliers lost yesterday’s game for more reasons than one. An opportunity to tie the game would have been nice. But they had plenty of those for the first 47 minutes of the night.
Cleveland has a chance to clinch the top seed in the Eastern Conference with a win on Tuesday over the Chicago Bulls.