SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The NBA determined that game officials missed six calls in the last four minutes of the Utah Jazz loss in overtime for the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.
In the Last Two Minute report, which reviews officers’ performance during the final two minutes of the fourth period and overtime, the league found three calls that put Jazz at a disadvantage and three calls that put the 76ers at a disadvantage
Jazz players were furious after the game, with Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert feeling they would have won the game in Philadelphia had it not been for the league referees.
“We won this game in my personal opinion,” said Mitchell. “I am going to give them credit, they won everything, nice, but this is consistent. It has been a consistent thing. “
Mitchell was expelled at the end of the extension period for discussing ties with officials.
NBA admits missed calls against jazz, 76ers
The NBA admitted that officials missed four calls in the final two minutes of regulation and two calls in overtime divided equally between the two teams.
During regulation, the league stated that Gobert should have been called for a foul against 76ers center Joel Embiid, who would have put him on the free-throw line with 1:14 left and Jazz taking 116-113.
Embiid missed the pain kick and Jazz controlled the rebound.
In possession of the ball that followed, league officials missed three calls in 20 seconds
With 59 seconds remaining in the game, the league signaled that Bojan Bogdanovic should have been penalized for traveling while dragging his pivot-foot while he was trapped by the 76ers near the half-court.
As he passed out of the trap, 76ers guard Ben Simmons clearly kicked the ball forcing it out of the field, both wrong calls from the referees.
After recovering the ball in the backcourt, after two wrong shots by Mitchell, the league determined that Embiid missed Mitchell in his third attempt at possession that should have resulted in free throws.
In overtime, game officials missed two more calls.
With Jazz losing to 126-123, 76ers striker Tobias Harris traveled with 1: 2 to the end of the game clock, which should have resulted in Jazz catching the ball.
However, after Harris missed his shot on the rim and Simmons missed his bounce attempt, Gobert was whistled for a foul against Embiid who sent the 76ers center to the free-throw line.
The streak led to Mitchell’s first technical foul in overtime, pushing the 76ers’ lead from three to five, with 57 seconds to go.
Shortly after Harris’ trip, the league determined that Gobert should have been called in for a three-second violation for spending too much time in the painting without directly defending a 76ers player.
In total, the NBA determined that the referees missed six calls in the last four minutes of the game.
In the regulations, the 76ers should have had the opportunity to reduce Jazz’s three-point lead to just two with more than a minute remaining. In addition, a turnaround in Jazz should have returned the ball to Philadelphia with just under a minute remaining, losing by one, which would have nullified the free throws that Mitchell would have yielded an embiid foul on.
On the other hand, Jazz should have received the three ball with just over a minute remaining in overtime on Harris’ trip, but the officials ended up awarding two free throws to the 76ers after the missed trip violation.
In total, if the game had been refereed correctly, the 76ers should have had the chance to take the lead in regulation with just under a minute to go, after receiving two free throws from Embiid.
In overtime, Jazz should have lost the ball by three points in overtime with just over a minute to go, and Mitchell was still in play.
How any of these scenarios would have happened is purely hypothetical, but it is clear that the game officials played a large role in altering the outcome of the game, even if their errors were evenly distributed.