NBA acknowledges officiating error versus Boston Celtics; anticipates challenging back-to-back

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NBA office confirmed on Tuesday that the officials in Monday night’s Boston vs. Indiana game called a foul incorrectly with 0.6 seconds remaining, setting up Indiana’s game-winning free throws (133–131).

The league said that Kristaps Porzingis of the Celtics merely made “incidental arm contact occurring concurrent with the block” on Bennedict Mathurin’s final shot in Tuesday’s Last Two Minute Report.

In order to ascertain whether contact took place prior to the buzzer going off and whether time needed to be added to the clock—which it did—the officials appropriately performed a replay review. However, the report stated that Boston had run out of challenges and thus the play was not subject to the replay trigger.

After defeating the top team in the Eastern Conference, Mathurin made the game-winning free throws to equalise the series between the two teams at 2-2.

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