The NBA blew the whistle on some of its own officiating Saturday, saying officials made nine incorrect non-calls late in the Cavaliers' 110-108 overtime win over the Hawks Friday night at Philips Arena.
The league produces a "Last Two Minutes" report for all games that are within five points with two minutes remaining or that go into overtime. Nine incorrect non-calls is two to three times the number in a normal report. By comparison, in Friday's other reports, the Heat-Kings game had three missed calls, and the Raptors-Grizzlies and Bucks-Magic games had four.
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The report concluded that five of the non-calls benefited the Hawks while four helped the Cavs.
If you were watching the game and wondering if the officials had swallowed their whistles or something in the late going, the league detailed all nine incorrect non-calls, including these situations:
• Cavs guard Kyrie Irving should have been called for an offensive foul while setting a screen on the Hawks’ Kent Bazemore with 1:51 remaining in regulation.
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• LeBron James should have been called for an offensive foul against Bazemore with 41.3 seconds left in regulation. James hit a layup to give the Cavaliers the lead.
• The Cavaliers Iman Shumpert fouled Jeff Teague with 1.2 seconds remaining in regulation. Teague failed to get a shot off on the final possession.
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• With 48.4 seconds remaining in overtime and the score tied at 104-104, the Cavs’ J.R. Smith should have been called for an offensive foul on Bazemore.
• The Hawks’ Kyle Korver should have been whistled for a five-second inbound violation with 18.8 seconds left in overtime. Instead, the Cavs' Matthew Dellavedova was called for a non-shooting foul after the ball was inbounded.