The Utah Jazz escaped with a 117-114 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night. Unfortunately, it was stained with controversy as officials missed an obvious goaltending violation by Rudy Gobert on Damian Lillard's potential game-tying layup in the closing seconds of the game.
The referees provided an explanation for what happened, though they did acknowledge their mistake that influenced the outcome of the game. See the ref's official statement below via Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune:
NBA refs acknowledge they missed the goaltending Rudy committed on Lillard’s shot pic.twitter.com/q2pFluOune
— Eric Walden (@tribjazz) February 8, 2020
The Blazers superstar, who was absolutely furious with the no-call, didn't want any of it.
We don’t wana hear this punk Ass shit. https://t.co/nuG56kaHbR
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) February 8, 2020
With the Blazers down two with less than 20 seconds remaining in the fourth, Lillard escaped the Jazz defense and had a good look at a lay-up at the basket. Gobert came swooping in from behind and deterred the shot. However, it was clear that the ball hit the backboard first before the two-time Defensive Player of the Year swatted it away.
As the referees admitted after the game, the “last two-minute” report will surely indicate that the officials missed the call. Unfortunately for the Blazers, there is nothing they can do now but to move on from this heartbreaking defeat.
Despite the loss, Portland is still very much in the Western Conference playoff picture, just 2.5 games behind the no. 8 seeded Memphis Grizzlies. Much of this has to do with Lillard's scorching hot stretch over his last nine games, where the Blazers went 6-3.
Through these nine games, the five-time All-Star averaged 42.4 points while shooting 51.8 percent from the field. He also converted nearly seven threes per game, while shooting at an insane 53 percent clip from downtown.
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