In the fourth quarter of the Washington Wizards' 121-112 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Monday night, Washington shooting guard Bradley Beal was looking to score.
He drove past Detroit guard Wayne Ellington, picked up his dribble and appeared to take at least four steps.
However, the referees did not call Beal for a travel.
Here's the full play, via Complex Sports:
Cancel NBA refs. https://t.co/KybFya8cRh
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) February 12, 2019
Fans on Twitter were very vocal, most shocked that what seemed to be such a blatant travel was not called.
On Tuesday, the official National Basketball Referees Association tried to explain that the call on the court was correct because Beal had fumbled the ball and recovered it.
But Monty McCutchen, the NBA's vice president of referee development and training, disagreed with the call and with the NBRA's explanation. He told Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“While in some cases a fumble at the end of a dribble on the gather can be retrieved, that is not what happened on this play,” McCutchen told ESPN. “Bradley Beal gathers the ball and takes two steps, but then loses control of the ball. Once he has lost control after taking the two steps, he must regain control and pass or shoot before taking another step in order to be legal. Since he does not regain control until another step, the play is a travel.”
In their defense of the call, the NBRA cited a rarely-used fumble rule. As they explained on Twitter, “It is legal for a player to ‘fumble' (even without a defender touching the ball) then re-establish possession and his pivot foot.”
Luckily, the controversial call was inconsequential to the outcome of Monday night's game.
Beal, 25, has averaged 25.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists on the year.
The seven-season veteran was named to his second consecutive All-Star game this season.
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