Damian Lillard denied game-tying basket because of brutal officiating

Tom Gatto

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Damian Lillard denied game-tying basket because of brutal officiating image

Damian Lillard finished with 42 points Friday night. He should have had at least 44, but a missed goaltending call by the officials in the fourth quarter kept that from happening.

Worse for Lillard and his Trail Blazers teammates, the no-call kept them from tying the Jazz in the final seconds of regulation. Utah held on to win 117-114.

Lillard attempted a layup around Jazz center Rudy Gobert, who blocked the shot after it came off the backboard. That should have been called goaltending, but the crew didn't see it, and it couldn't review the play. (A review can only be triggered when goaltending is called on the floor.)

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Lillard was, naturally, furious after the game.

"It's an easy call. Three referees out there and they don't call it," he told reporters.

"They cost us a game," a steamed Lillard added. "We're in a playoff race and they cost us a game, on an easy call." The loss dropped the Blazers (24-29) to 2 1/2 games behind the Grizzlies for the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

Portland coach Terry Stotts called the no-call "inexcusable."

Blazers players told reporters that officials told them on the court Gobert's block "wasn't even close" to being a goaltend, but crew chief Josh Tiven changed that tune after reviewing video.

Brian Forte and JB DeRosa were the officials working with Tiven.

Portland center Jusuf Nurkic summed up the situation this way:

Lillard's backcourt mate, CJ McCollum, offered this perspective:

Other NBA people were incredulous over the officials' failure:

This article has been updated.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.