Rumors

Joel Lorenzi: A lot of confusion here now that we’re at half. Mark Daigneault is at center court with John Goble, presumably to understand the order of ejections. Jalen Williams and Lu Dort also looked to be arguing with the rest of the crew before being ushered away by staff.

Twitter

Greg Finberg: Justin Champagnie has been ejected for throwing a punch. Jaylin Williams, Ajay Mitchell and Cason Wallace have all been ejected for escalating the situation.

Twitter

Josh Robbins: A shoving match here in the Thunder-Wizards game that first involved Justin Champagnie and Jaylin Williams and then escalated to involve Anthony Gill and Ajay Mitchell.

Twitter

When Jalen Suggs tossed his mouthpiece off the court after he was bumped by LaMelo Ball roughly halfway through the first quarter of Thursday’s game at Charlotte, the Magic guard was quickly assessed a technical fine from official Scott Foster. What Suggs didn’t know at the time was that his wallet would take a hit, too. Suggs was fined $25,000 for “throwing his mouthpiece in the direction of the spectator stands,” the NBA announced Saturday afternoon.

Orlando Sentinel

Gerald Bourguet: The NBA’s L2M report deems that it was a correct no-call on De’Aaron Fox for Devin Booker’s last-second heave where he stepped on Fox’s foot: “Fox (SAS) is legally moving along Booker's (PHX) path when Booker clips the back of his foot”.

bsky.app

Gerald Bourguet: Furthermore, the L2M says there were two missed travel calls on Booker (0:37) and Jalen Green (0:27) as well as a missed foul call on Rasheer Fleming against Victor Wembanyama (1:35)

bsky.app

“I understand why [fans] are frustrated about it, because they’re an X, Y and Z fan,” says Gilgeous-Alexander. “They’re playing against us, and in the past couple years we’ve happened to beat their team. And we beat their team because we scored more points. We scored points at the free throw line, midrange, three-point shot, free throw, everything. So I completely understand why they’re frustrated. Gilgeous-Alexander shrugs at the criticism. He averages 9.1 free throw attempts this season, fewer than Luka Dončić (10.3) and tied with Deni Avdija. He points out the only time he averaged double-digit attempts was in 2022–23. “And nobody cared,” he says, “because we were the No. 10 seed.” He isn’t bothered by the internet outrage. He just points out the numbers don’t back it up.

Sports Illustrated

“But you’ll never hear an OKC fan complain about my free throws. You’ll never hear a Denver fan complain about Jokić’s free throws. You’ll never hear a Lakers fan complain about Luka’s free throws. It’s just part of the business. But I love it, it creates buzz around the game. It creates rivalries. It creates energy. It’s what makes the NBA so fun. Honestly, the fact that they care so much is great, because they care, they watch it on TV, the TV deals grow, I get more money. It’s how it goes. That’s honestly how I see it. So I love it. It’s amazing. It makes the games more fun.”

Sports Illustrated

Bleacher Report: NBA Ref Bill Kennedy has been cleared to officiate and made his return to the court this week 💪💯 Kennedy suffered a hamstring strain while officiating Magic - Sixers in January

x.com

Dave McMenamin: The L2M also determined that Luka Doncic should not have been whistled for an offensive foul before his game winner in overtime and it was a correct no call

Twitter

Dave McMenamin: The Last Two Minutes Report for Lakers-Nuggets determined that Austin Reaves should not have been awarded two free throws with 9.2 seconds remaining in regulation, ruling that Spencer Jones had a clean strip.

Twitter

Ira Winderman: NBA rules Pelle Larsson's 5-second violation late in loss vs. Magic as correct in officiating report: "Larsson (MIA) fails to release the throw-in before 5 seconds elapses."

Twitter

The Heat also believes a five-second violation should have been called on the Magic with Orlando ahead by two points and 18.5 to play. But the officials ruled that Magic coach Jamahl Mosley called a timeout before the five seconds were up. “That’s what’s frustrating about it, because we get fined if we say something about it,” Adebayo said. “But that altered the game. When you alter the game, you should have to, like, stand on that. Because when we mess up, when we make mistakes, when we miss stuff, all hell breaks loose on us. We got people blaming us for everything. And then on the other side, I felt like they had a five-second call that wasn’t called. That altered the game.”

Miami Herald

The Heat was also not happy about the five-second violation called in the final seconds. Spoelstra and Heat players believed the five-second violation called on Larsson’s inbound pass was quick. It came at a crucial time, too, as the call that resulted in a Heat turnover came with Miami down by four and 36.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter. “I haven’t gone through the mechanics of it right now, but it felt like a quick five,” Spoelstra said. Powell added: “I thought the five-second violation was BS. I mean, it was too fast. We couldn’t even get through our first two actions before they called a five-second violation.”

Miami Herald