PORTLAND, Ore. _ The Miami Heat took flight to the final stop of their surprisingly satisfying three-game western swing blissfully unaware they had left in their wake one of the more controversial finishes of the NBA season.
The Utah Jazz, by contrast, were seething, especially in light of the split-second-too-late put-back basket by center Rudy Gobert that could have instead given them the victory Thursday night at Vivant Smart Home Arena.
"There was," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said in the wake of the Heat's 111-110 victory, "a number of things late in the game that were a little bit confusing."
Nothing to the Jazz was more confounding than the timing of the game's final sequence, with Utah given possession down by the final margin with 3.9 seconds to play after an errant attempt by Heat guard Goran Dragic to pass to center Hassan Whiteside in the lane.
On that play, the Jazz got a steal from forward Gordon Hayward with 4.9 seconds to play. The Jazz's timeout request, however, was granted with 3.9 seconds to play. Utah's contention was that a potential 24-second violation on the Heat should have allowed them more time, even though the Heat's final possession began on a defensive rebound with 27.9 seconds to play.
Asked why the clock was not reviewed for the exact amount of time remaining following the final change of possession, referee Ed Malloy, the officiating crew chief, later would tell a pool reporter, "We don't have a trigger that allows us to look to see if a timeout occurs prior to the expiration of the shot clock."
Had a 24-second violation been called _ correctly or otherwise _ the officials could have gone to replay over the timing. There is no such trigger with a team calling a timeout.
From there, the Jazz were forced to call a second consecutive timeout when unable to inbound, ultimately getting a 12-foot pull-up jumper from Hayward that was off.
Game.
But not from the Jazz's perspective, with Gobert securing the offensive rebound with two-tenths of a second to play and putting in a put-back attempt that was ruled _ this time upon video replay _ to have been too late.
"We thought there was more time on the game clock on the last possession," Snyder said.
There also was a Jazz contention that forward Joe Johnson was fouled by the Heat's Tyler Johnson on the late scramble. Malloy declined to comment on that aspect, with referees only required to comment on logistics and rules applications, not judgment calls.
Among the reasons for the consternation was that the Heat had called timeout on their final possession with 13.2 seconds remaining _ with eight seconds showing on the shot clock at that time. While the shot clock at that stage does not display tenths of seconds, that made it appear a 5.2-seconds difference between game clock and shot clock, with the Heat never getting the ball to the rim on their final possession.
"We haven't gotten an explanation on anything, the shot clock, the game clock," said Snyder, who was livid at the final buzzer.
After the game, Gobert said in Utah's locker room, "I think it was supposed to be five seconds or so. I think we got a pretty good shot and an offensive rebound, but not enough time."
He later posted on Twitter, "It still amazes me that those kind of things happen in the best league in the world."
For his part, Whiteside was certain he was fouled on the play that resulted in that Dragic turnover in the waning seconds.
"As soon as I got it, I felt like somebody tackled me," Whiteside said. "I don't know who. I got it and I just got sacked for a loss of 10."
Hayward said he had to wait an extra split second on the attempt because of the defensive hustle of Heat forward James Johnson.
"It's make or miss at the end of the day," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
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