The Warriors-Grizzlies game that ended 121-116 in favor of the Bay Area team is already history. It is in the past because both teams have to quickly prepare for the next battles. The Grizzlies for a more immediate one, to face Dallas to earn the right to play in the Playoffs. The Warriors in their postseason matchup against the Western Conference revelation, the Houston Rockets.
But before it fades away, the game leaves its controversy. The NBA has acknowledged four major errors by the referees at the end of the game. It’s not that the ending is in doubt, but it’s always nice to see the NBA’s transparency with its last two-minute referee reports.
In that report, the league indicates that the refereeing trio ofJosh Tiven, Bill Kennedy and Nick Buchertshould not have called a foul on a block byBrandin PodziemskionScotty Pippen Jr.with 37 seconds remaining. The foul rewardedPippenwith two free throws, although he only made one, and put the game at 117-114.
Later, and perhaps more seriously, with 7.3 seconds left and Golden State up by one, the game was stopped for a Ja Morant out-of-bounds trying to take the ball away from Stephen Curry. The referees gave possession to Golden State when they should have given it to the Grizzlies, as the last to touch was Curry.
There was also controversy over the five-second violation called against Memphis, but the NBA indicates that the action was well managed by the referees, as Memphis ran out of time with 119-116 and 5.4 seconds to go. After that play, Curry was fouled and the Golden State star sealed his team’s victory.
In the report of the last two minutes, it is pointed out that the referees made two more errors by omission. One was an uncalled foul by Draymond Green on Pippen with 1:29 left in the game that would have been Green’s sixth foul. The Warriors player ended up being eliminated later, with 58.6 seconds remaining.
The other was a play in which Zach Edey touched the ball on offense when it was in the imaginary cylinder of the rim that prohibits touching the ball. The referees validated this action by the Grizzlies center with 1:28 left and the Warriors‘ lead was cut to 114-111.
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