The NBA is making it a hat trick in terms of big mistakes on game-winning plays over the last week.
The Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Houston Rockets on Monday thanks to a chaotic final sequence. With Milwaukee trailing 100-99, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo blocked a shot attempt by Rockets center Alperen Sengun, and the rebound was taken by Bucks center Brook Lopez. Antetokounmpo then received the pass from Lopez and eventually gave the ball to Damian Lillard, who won the game with a go-ahead layup to give Milwaukee the 101-100 victory.
GIANNIS BLOCK AND DAME FOR THE WIN!!! pic.twitter.com/Jin9TBcodS
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 19, 2024
But in the last two-minute report for the game released on Tuesday, the NBA admitted to an error on that final Bucks possession. The league said that Milwaukee should have been whistled for a violation with 21 seconds left because Antetokounmpo was out of bounds when he received the pass from Lopez.
Here is a screenshot that indeed shows that over half of Antetokounmpo’s left foot was out of bounds when he got the ball.
Giannis stepped out of bounds before Dame’s game-winner pic.twitter.com/9Y7xfFFj2F
— BricksCenter (@BricksCenter) November 19, 2024
Because Lopez had secured the rebound and a change-of-possession, the Rockets should have gotten the ball back with the shot clock off (because there were less than 24 seconds left). That meant the Bucks would have had to foul, and even if they still had two timeouts left, would have had a difficult time winning the game from there.
This is now a trifecta of absolutely pivotal missed calls by NBA referees in just the last several days alone. On Saturday, the officials missed a travel before Boston’s Jayson Tatum hit a game-winner on the Toronto Raptors. Then on Saturday, the refs missed another travel before Minnesota’s Julius Randle won the game at the buzzer against the Phoenix Suns. Now the miss on Antetokounmpo’s foot being out of bounds has made it a third game decided by a brutal non-call.
