The Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics played a scorcher on Thursday night in Wisconsin, a potential playoff matchup that saw both teams trade punches right down to the end of a game in which the Bucks escaped with the win.
But it was certainly a game not without controversy, as the final seconds took some time to play out after a stoppage with 0.2 seconds left on the shot clock sparked plenty of discussion and debate. A jump ball got won by Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez tried tipping the ball at the rim and missed. Malcolm Brogdon flew in to attempt (and miss) a layup off the miss, but the refs said the clock started when Antetokounmpo won the jump ball, not when Lopez tipped it towards the rim, and as a result, possession changed hands and Boston got the ball with a few seconds left.
Milwaukee protested, but the call on the floor stood, giving the Celtics the ball back and setting up a frantic inbound play for Boston that saw a lot of contact and ultimately ended with a Kyrie Irving runner in the lane that didn’t go. Afterward, pretty much everyone on the Celtics thought there was a foul or two along the way and the Bucks emerged victorious. They were, however, still mad about having to defend a final play that probably shouldn’t have ever happened.
As the NBA’s official Last Two Minutes report indicated, well, everyone had something to complain about.
Last 2 Min. report highlights:
Bucks shouldn't have been called for shot-clock violation on Lopez tip w/3.5 left.
Kyrie should've been called for off. foul for pushing Middleton into Morris.
Middleton should have been called for fouling Morris.
Bledsoe & Giannis both fouled Kyrie— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) February 22, 2019
The most obvious ruling here was that officials got the shot clock violation wrong, which pretty much everyone knew was coming. But perhaps the bigger surprise is that Irving was both the fouler and foulee on Thursday night. Yes, he should have been called for an offensive foul, and not one but two fouls against defenders on his drive should have gotten a whistle.
This is so complicated that not even the “let them play” folks really have a leg to stand on. It truly was a complete mess, the kind of mess that makes you glad it was merely a regular season game and not in the playoffs. Human error is going to happen in a game involving, well, humans, so this could be excused a bit. But the important thing to note is that nothing can be altered as a result of this report and everyone involved will have to live with a Bucks win.
