Miami Heat big man Kelly Olynyk was slapped with a flagrant foul in the fourth quarter of their 107-103 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday. After a thorough review though, the official admittrf that it was the wrong call.
The play occurred in the fourth quarter at the 6:56 minute mark with the game knotted at 92. Olynyk tried to strip the ball but was called for a foul. It was then upgraded to a Flagrant 1 foul by referee David Guthrie.
Lowry subsequently drained two free throws and the Raptors retained possession. The guard then found a wide-open Serge Ibaka who finished an easy layup. With 6:37 remaining, Toronto had a 96-92 lead over the Heat.
“So on that play, at replay, Olynyk, we judged that he took an aggressive swipe and he made some contact into the facial area of Kyle Lowry,” Guthrie said about the controversial call during the Heat-Raptors game, per Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“At replay, in my judgement, I felt like that did meet the criteria for a flagrant foul. After reviewing that more postgame, and thinking about it a little bit more, to me, it now is more of a natural basketball play going for the ball and that the contact really did not rise to the criteria of a flagrant foul.
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The sequence appeared to give the Raptors all the momentum, as they never gave up the lead after that. The Heat had a chance to tie the game but missed.
Whether or not the errant call by the referee was the actual cause of the loss is up for debate. Either way, it was still good that the referee admitted his mistake.
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