The 2017-18 NBA season saw its first real game-winning buzzer-beater when the Minnesota Timberwolves stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night. The wild game-ending sequence saw Carmelo Anthony knock down a clutch three-pointer to give the Thunder a 113-112 lead with just 4.7 seconds remaining.
Minnesota found themselves without any timeouts left, but a quick inbound and what looked like an illegal screen from Karl-Anthony Towns freed up Andrew Wigging, who proceeded to bank in the long-distance game-winner. It was an exciting moment somewhat overshadowed by controversy.
That sure looks like an illegal screen, doesn’t it? The NBA released their Last Two Minute report from the Timberwolves-Thunder game on Monday afternoon, confirming what everyone thought in real time. It was an illegal screen on Towns.
The NBA Officiating Last Two Minute Report determined the following: “While contact is hard, this is a close play in transition. Multiple angles show Towns (MIN) establishes a screening position in George’s (OKC) path before the contact and he absorbs the contact when it occurs. However, his stance is wide and contact occurs to his leg area, which makes the screen illegal.” That isn’t going to make the Oklahoma City Thunder feel any better, but there you go.
The Last Two Minute Report also revealed that Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau tried signaling for a timeout on the play in question. It’s hard to see on the broadcast footage, but considering the Timberwolves didn’t have any timeouts remaining, this would have resulted in the Thunder regaining possession, essentially sealing the game for Oklahoma City.
“After the made shot, with no timeouts remaining for either team, Coach Thibodeau (MIN) can be seen quickly signaling a timeout behind the back of the slot official and then immediately waving his players up the court. By the time the referee is in a position to notice Thibodeau, he is not signaling a timeout and play moves up the court.”
In fairness to NBA officiating, these kinds of game-ending sequences are filled with chaos. Nobody has any idea what’s going on in real time, and it’s not something you can review after the fact. All that aside, this is another example of the NBA’s Last Two Minute reports doing more harm than good. We all appreciate the transparency, but if you aren’t going to change the result, then what are we doing here?
