NBA rules LeBron James’ block on Victor Oladipo in Game 5 should’ve been goaltending
NBA referees missed two important calls, including goaltending on Cleveland star LeBron James, in the closing seconds of the Cavaliers’ 98-95 Game 5 victory against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, the league announced in its Last Two-Minute Report released on Thursday.
James should have been called for goaltending on Pacers guard Victor Oladipo’s driving layup with five seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, and had goaltending been called, the basket would have given Indiana a 97-95 lead.
Instead, Cleveland called timeout and set up a play for James, who made a three-pointer as time expired, giving Cleveland a 3-2 series lead
However, the refs also missed a call on Cleveland’s possession before the Oladipo play that should’ve allowed the Cavs to maintain possession. As James dribbled toward the rim, Thaddeus Young poked the ball away from James under the basket. The ball hit the baseline, which should’ve been out of bounds off Young. Cleveland should’ve had possession with 27.6 seconds left in the game and 18 seconds left on the shot clock of a 95-95 game.
Instead, the ball bounced up, hit James and then went out of bounds, and the ref ruled it Indiana’s ball.
The NBA also made note that James lifted his pivot foot before the out-of-bounds sequence, but because it was only observable in enhanced video, the NBA didn’t rule that it was a missed call.
So yes, while Indiana was disappointed it didn’t get the goaltending call, had refs called the out-of-bounds play correctly, there’s no way to play out the sequence of events the same way. Perhaps Cleveland would have made a two or three-pointer. Maybe they wouldn’t have. Who knows how the sequence would have played out.
It was an experienced crew: James Capers (more than 100 playoff games, seven Finals games), Bill Spooner (more than 100 playoff games) and Bill Kennedy (more than 100 playoff games, five Finals games). Spooner was the official under the basket on the Oladipo shot, and Kennedy was under the basket on the baseline on James’ turnover.
Source:-https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2018/04/26/nba-rules-lebron-james-block-victor-oladipo-game-5-goaltending/554892002/
