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On Wednesday night at the American Airlines Center, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Dallas Mavericks, 107-104, in thrilling fashion. Lakers undrafted rookie Austin Reaves capped off a wild final few minutes with a game-icing three-pointer with 0.9 seconds remaining.
Afterward, Reaves — already sounding like a veteran — said he thought he should have earned a free throw for the bucket, as Tim Hardaway Jr. aggressively closed out and Reaves hit the deck before his triple swished through the twine.
“I thought he fouled me, but that’s besides the point,” Reaves playfully cracked in his postgame remarks.
LeBron James agreed.
“And he fouled your ass, too, didn’t he?” LeBron said while the Lakers celebrated Reaves' heroics in the locker room.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/07X5e8U73vXXesGhwMlzEq?si=1f64724a8d1d4367
The NBA, apparently, does not agree. According to the Last Two Minute Report released by the league on Thursday, the officials rightfully held their whistles on Reaves' dagger.
However, there was an officiating error on the Lakers' final possession, per the L2M. The league determined that Russell Westbrook should have been called for traveling before he made the game-winning assist to Reaves. “Westbrook splits his feet at the start of his dribble,” the L2M states.
The NBA's Last 2 Minute Report from Mavs-Lakers had 5 incorrect calls, including 4 that should've been called against LA.
The last one says Russell Westbrook traveled before making his game-winning assist on the Austin Reaves 3-pointer. https://t.co/b0ovxoRc5t
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 16, 2021
In fact, per the L2M, the Lakers have nothing to complain about, considering they benefited from multiple missed calls in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime. Here are the four:
- A dual three-second violation on Kristaps Porzingis and Russell Westbrook. That cancels out.
- A missed foul on Westbrook with 19.1 seconds to go and the Lakers down 93-90. The league says Westbrook hit Jalen Brunson on the arm on Brunson's driving two-point attempt, which should have given Brunson two free throws and the Mavs a chance to go up by five.
- Then, with 11.5 seconds remaining in regulation and the Lakers down three, LeBron James supposedly got away with a traveling violation. Instead, James missed a three, but Wayne Ellington secure the offensive board and nailed a game-tying three.
So there you go. You can see the L2M with the league's explanations and corresponding clips here.
I'm sure Mark Cuban won't be upset about this, at all.
