Referees are supposed to be fair in their decision-making. They are the ones who essentially determine the result of the match/es that they officiate. It's therefore vital that they stay alert and be able to make accurate judgements. When these occur, everyone will be pleased that the right call was made.
However, that wasn't really the case for a recent NBA game betweem the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors. The referees missed crucial calls that could've altered the match result.
As competitive as the Golden State Warriors' 121-116 play-in win over the Memphis Grizzlies was, the final couple of minutes were a bit of a slog. Turnovers, missed free throws and fouls abounded and whenever there are late-game fouls; there will inevitably be controversy. It turns out the critics had just cause, as the NBA's Last Two Minute Report (L2M) revealed that officials made four crucial incorrect calls down the stretch of the game.
The Warriors appeared to have the win in hand when Stephen Curry made a dagger 3-pointer with a minute left to give Golden State a 117-111 lead. Things didn't exactly go smoothly from there, however, as the Grizzlies scored five unanswered points to cut the lead to one with 14 seconds left. Four Curry free throws and a costly five-second violation from the Grizzlies sealed the win for the Warriors, who earned the No. 7 seed and a date with the No. 2 Houston Rockets in the first round of the play-offs.
Given the results of the L2M, the Grizzlies may have a legitimate beef that they should have been in the Warriors' spot, rather than having to fight for their post-season lives against Dallas Mavericks.
Let's take a look at each of the four incorrect calls.
1:29 - Draymond fouls Pippen
With just under 90 seconds remaining and the Grizzlies trailing by five points, Scotty Pippen Jr. drove to the basket and lost the ball before throwing up a desperation shot that hit the rim and was tipped in by center, Zach Edey (more on that later). However, the L2M report states that Draymond Green made, "illegal contact with Pippen Jr.'s wrist after his gather," which should have been called a foul.
The Grizzlies ended up with two points. Things could've been different. That foul would've been Green's sixth, which would've sent him to the bench for the final minute and a half of the game. Instead, he got to play another 30 seconds before picking up foul No. 6 with just under a minute remaining.
1:28 - Edey commits goaltending
The tip dunk by Edey that cut the Warriors' lead to three points shouldn't have counted. The L2M report said Edey made, "contact with the ball while it is in the imaginary cylinder above the rim" and thus should've been called for offensive goaltending.
That's always a difficult call to make in real time with players so far above the rim but the officials missed this one, potentially making the end of the game much more interesting.
0:37 - Podziemski's block is clean
The replays weren't kind to the officials during the broadcast on this play and it turns out they did, in fact, get it wrong. After picking up a steal, Pippen Jr. raced toward the basket as Warriors guard, Brandin Podziemski, chased in pursuit. As Pippen Jr. went up for a layup and changed hands in mid-air, Podziemski timed his jump and swat attempt perfectly, appearing to hit mostly ball. The referees ruled it a foul, however, resulting in two free throws for Pippen Jr.
"Podziemski makes contact with the ball during Pippen Jr.'s shot attempt near the basket," the L2M Report stated, "and any ensuing contact once the ball becomes loose is considered incidental."
Pippen Jr. made one of two free throws to cut the Warriors' lead back down to three but the point should have been erased from the board.
0:07 - Ball awarded to wrong team
As Memphis was scrambling to foul with under 10 seconds remaining in a one-point game, Ja Morant reached in on Curry's dribble and knocked the ball out of bounds. Possession was quickly awarded to Golden State and you could see Morant on the TV cameras telling the referee that he should have called a foul on the play. Turns out, Morant was wrong and not only was it not a foul; but the ball should've also been given to the Grizzlies.
In the end, it's somewhat of a wash since both teams had two calls go against them in the final two minutes, but the game surely would have played out differently had things been officiated correctly. It's worth noting that one of the game's most crucial calls, the five-second violation by the Grizzlies with just over five seconds remaining, was called correctly.
A pair of former Golden State Warriors players think the Dubs got a pretty fortunate whistle on perhaps the most pivotal play of Golden State’s 121-116 play-in tournament victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
NBC Sports Bay Area's post-game crew of Hall of Famer, Chris Mullin, former big man, Festus Ezeli and host, Bonta Hill doubted the refs got the deciding call right.
Hill was the first to comment on it. As, "Warriors Postgame Live" on NBC Sports Bay Area went through that play in a highlights package, the host said, "If we could run it back, I would love to count — somebody have a stopwatch out there? It was the sketchiest five-second violation, but you know what? The Dubs will take it. We'll take the days off."
When Hill asked Mullin his opinion on the call, the former Warriors jokingly deferred to his age to not give a definitive answer.
"I mean, you said it was like 3.5," Mullen said to Hill. "Look, they change the rules so often in the NBA; maybe they changed it, I don't know. Every time I say something, I'm outdated. Leave me out of it! I'm a senior citizen. No disrespect to senior citizens, but I may be a little out of whack right now."
The "senior citizens" comment got a laugh from the crew to which Ezeli followed up with his perspective. “I think I counted 3.5 seconds but, listen, we're going to Houston,” the former Warriors said to another laugh from the group.
For what it’s worth, the referee in the play does move his arm five times, signaling the five seconds that an inbounder has to pass the ball to a team-mate on the floor and clips of the play do show that about five seconds pass from when Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama gets the ball. The concern here is likely twofold: The final second that the official signals with his arm does look a bit rushed and there are plenty of times officials give inbounders a bit of wiggle room on a five-second violation; so the fact that a referee decided to have a particularly strict whistle at this point of the game is a bit surprising.
The call wasn’t a major concern for Grizzlies head coach, Tuomas Iisalo, who said after the game, "There are other things that eat you up more."
Mullin punctuated the discussion of the violation with, "sometimes you gotta do what it takes to get your first play-in victory."
Sometimes, that involves a team’s stars putting on incredible offensive performances that bring a home crowd to its feet. Other times, it involves letting the officials count to five seconds at their own hastened pace.
NBA fans were understandably furious about the way the game played out, with several of them voicing their frustration. NBA fans let their feelings be known on X about the officiating in the play-in game. One fan noted, "Referees trying to ruin a great game of basketball."
"Not to be that guy, but I hope every single NBA fan outside of Warriors fans is seeing what the referees are doing right now," wrote another frustrated fan.
One fan outright believes the referees favoured the Warriors, claiming, "Warriors should be losing this game, but NBA referees exist."
Another fan warned Warriors supporters by saying, "I never wanna hear Warriors fans complain about the referees EVER again."
One NBA supporter believes NBA officials need to be held accountable, saying, "We need referee post-game press conferences immediately. They have so much influence over games and they get off scotch free for f****** s*** up."
"These refs indeed suck. How is that a foul on Draymond?" one fan said.
"The Warriors have definitely benefited from some calls in this game, but good lord, the Grizzlies have been GIFTED some calls in the final minute," a fan said. "An obviously clean block and then whatever the hell they called on that rebound. These refs are drunk tonight or have Memphis moneyline."
Another fan added: "Podz had a clean block and no foul on Looney. I don’t know what they are watching. Refs trying to give the Grizzlies the win. Ridiculous."
"This honestly might have been the worst officiated game of the year. Wasn't 5 seconds, and even if it was, the refs usually would swallow that whistle to not decide the outcome of a game," a fan said.
Another added, "Those refs gotta be investigated they called a 5 seconds when it appeared more like 3. Horrendous stuff."
Following the game, NBA fans expressed widespread frustration, demanding accountability and an investigation into the officiating. The outcry highlighted major concerns about the integrity of officiating in the league during high-stakes moments.
It seems to me that the refs screwed up. Matters such as these should never occur. This is especially the case for a potential knockout game. An investigation would probably be beneficial for a better understanding of the screw up.
The only thing that can be done now is to accept and move on from the result and more importantly, the controversy. There's no use in mulling over a mistake forever. There's comes a time when something can take over your life if you can't get over and accept what happened.
One can't change history without affecting the future.