If you’re among the many Boston Celtics fans who were absolutely positive the refs missed a call on point guard Kemba Walker’s drive to the cup in the waning seconds of regulation in Game 6’s loss on Wednesday night…
…you were right, not that you needed us to tell you that.
With the NBA having finally released their last two minutes report, it seems the league if ‘fessing up to having botched that most critical call, a call which could end up costing the Celtics their postseason, depending on the results of Game 7.
“Anunoby (TOR) makes contact to Walker’s (BOS) arm during his shooting motion that affects his driving shot attempt,” is the official assessment of the missed call.
Worth noting on the two incorrect calls on Game 6 L2M report: It covered calls in the final two minutes of regulation and the final two minutes of each overtime period, rather than the full OT periods.
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) September 10, 2020
For what it’s worth, there was another missed call on the floor in overtime, a missed travel on Toronto’s Norman Powell.
Conspicuously absent from the report is judgment on Nick Nurse’s dalliances on the court from the sidelines, though the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn reports the NBA releasing a statement denying wrongdoing on Nurse’s end.
“Coaches may be on or off the bench from the substitution box line (closest to the coach’s bench) to the baseline,” read the release. “Coach Nurse’s presence in the corner is not illegal and he does not directly interfere with the play.”
In that case, maybe we should ask Brad Stevens to stand at his nearest substitution box line whenever he can, motioning with gestures that could be calling for a pass.
It’s evidently totally okay to do!
