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Underdog NBA: Officials for Saturday’s Knicks-Spurs Game 5: Scott Foster James Capers Tyler Ford Mitchell Ervin (alternate)
Stefan Bondy: The NBA’s two-minute report uncovers two officiating mistakes, and neither involved OG Anunoby’s block on Fox. The first was Wemby should’ve been whistled for a defensive 3-second violation with 1:26 left. The second was Josh Hart should’ve been whistled for a foul on Stephon Castle with 1:03 left. On OG’s block on Fox, the NBA determined, “Anunoby makes a legal attempt to block Fox's shot and dislodges the ball from his control before making incidental arm contact.”
Tom Petrini: Mike Brown on the NBA decision to not call a retroactive flagrant on Wemby: "The league's gonna do what they're gonna do, ain't gonna listen to me, they ain't gonna listen to nobody else, and I said my piece on what I said after the game two days ago, and you just hope that at the end of the day everything's consistent on both ends throughout the whole game."
Ian Begley: In the NBA Today interview, McCutchen acknowledged that Wembanyama committed a foul and explained the standard involved in elevating a call: “Every game is reviewed by the league office postgame, the entirety of the game, and we're in the process of doing that today. Most certainly, it's important to note, though, as we do that review, that there's a real deference, just like in our replay center, Malika, that we want a clear and conclusive standard to upgrade something, because we do defer to the on-court officials. They're the ones feeling the moments. They're the ones that are involved in the up and down of the game. If there's a clear miss, then there's a possibility for an upgrade. But it is a clear and conclusive standard. It's not the same as re-refereeing it.”
Marc Stein: The NBA says there will be no additional sanctions against San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama for his first-quarter shove of Jalen Brunson in Game 3. The play is not being upgraded to a flagrant foul ... meaning Wembanyama remains on two flagrant foul points this postseason.
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The San Antonio Spurs attempted to make a substitution with just over five minutes left in Game 3 at Madison Square Garden in New York, N.Y. Initially, the substitution did not take place, but officials abruptly whistled the play dead just after the New York Knicks had inbounded the ball to try to figure out what was going on. NBA head of officiating Monty McCutchen felt that the game officials were not authoritative enough and got themselves into a mess as a result. “You have to run the game with a certain authority that isn’t overly authoritative, which can be off-putting, but also not to be in a situation in which you allow confusion, which is exactly what happened,” McCutchen said on ESPN’s “NBA Today.” “I think we contributed to the confusion by not being more authoritative in that regard, and allowed someone who thought they were coming in to come in. “It should have been you are not allowed into the game, make sure he is clear that he is not allowed in the game, or clear that he is allowed into the game. Because we did such a poor job of that administratively, I think it was best handled the way it was.”
Marc Stein: The NBA, as is customary, will today review Victor Wembanyama’s first-quarter foul on Jalen Brunson to determine whether any additional penalties (such as a retroactive flagrant foul) are assessed.
Joel Lorenzi: Sam Presti says “all NBA players do is complain, bitch and moan. (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) has gotten three technical fouls this year, none of them for complaining.” Also says “he’s brought the midrange back to an art form,” part of why he draws fouls successfully.
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Ian Begley: In its 2-minute report, NBA finds that referees in Game 2 of Knicks-Spurs made no errors in final 2 minutes. Every call was either a correct call or a correct non-call. On Luke Kornet kick ball late, NBA says: “Although Kornet (SAS) lifts his foot, he does not intentionally kick the loose ball.”
Tony Brothers will be calling his 20th Finals game Friday and his 15th game of this year’s postseason, more than any other official. His 45.9 foul calls per game this year rank 12th of 41 playoff officials, per tracking site NBAstuffer.
