The Miami Heat took down the Charlotte Hornets in double-overtime in their showdown on Thursday, and while they should be given credit for grinding throughout, it was made clear they got some extra help.
According to the NBA’s Last 2 Minute report, there were five errors in officiating during the contest. Interestingly, all five favored the Heat–including a Kyle Lowry 3-pointer in the first overtime of the game that should have just counted two points.
Ira Winderman of South Flordia Sun-Sentinel listed all five errors, four of which came in the fourth quarter.
Officiating report also cites errors:
— Uncalled goaltend on Adebayo.
— Uncalled travel on Butler.
— Uncalled foul on Butler.
— Uncalled foul on Tucker.
(All four in fourth quarter of game that went double-overtime. Of all five errors cited, all five in Heat favor.) https://t.co/tRLHr3XN4V— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) February 18, 2022
Aside from the Kyle Lowry triple, the most prominent among the errors is perhaps the Bam Adebayo block on LaMelo Ball. The ball was clearly already going down upon looking at the replay, and by NBA rules, it should have been called a goaltending violation. Had it been called correctly, the Hornets would have taken an 87-86 lead at that moment.
JUST LOOK AT BAM ADEBAYO. pic.twitter.com/OfM32QGGMn
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) February 18, 2022
As mentioned, the game ended in double-OT. However, the Hornets have every right to think they would have won the game if all those no-calls–or maybe even at least a couple– were called correctly.
Of course it’s hard to entirely blame the officials given that there were some violations that were easy to miss because of the past pace of the game. Nonetheless, it is certainly not a good look that it only favored one team and allowed them to come back and win.
