In response to the controversial finish in Friday night’s Miami Heat-Minnesota Timberwolves game, the NBA is saying “nothing to see here.”
Minnesota defeated Miami by a narrow 106-104 final score in the contest. The Heat had a chance to win the game on the final possession, but Bam Adebayo missed a three-point attempt from the left wing as time expired.
The sequence sparked controversy because it appeared that Timberwolves forward Julius Randle had made contact with an airborne Adebayo as he was releasing the shot attempt (causing Adebayo to fall off balance). Take a look at the clip.
On Saturday though, the NBA released the last two-minute report for the game. In the report, the league stated that it was a correct no-call by the officials. Randle, the NBA said, made only “marginal contact” with Adebayo’s side, per Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “Additionally, the league said in the report that Randle made legal “high-five” contact with Adebayo’s hand after the shot was released and also that Adebayo was the one who initiated the ensuing body contact with Randle upon his descent.
While Minnesota improved to 36-29 with the win, Miami fell to 29-33 with the loss. Both teams are fighting to avoid the play-in tournament in their respective conferences, and both are still currently No. 7 seeds.
To the NBA’s credit, they have admitted to crucial, game-altering mistakes multiple times already this season. But Friday’s controversial game-ending sequence in the Heat-Timberwolves contest did not quite fall into that category.
