The Milwaukee Bucks have been having a tough enough time this season without the officials making glaring mistakes.
The Bucks’ latest loss came Saturday against the Charlotte Hornets, in which the game swung on one drive that resulted in LaMelo Ball on the ground and the refs blowing the whistle. The Bucks were leading 114-113 with 7.3 seconds left when Ball was granted two free throws, which he made.
The foul was called on Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, but replay showed he had done little more than graze Ball with his hand. Ball just slipped as he started going in for a drive, or as the Hornets broadcast put it, tripped on his own Pumas:
Unfortunately for the Bucks, they didn’t have a challenge to negate the foul. Bucks head coach Doc Rivers had both of his challenges remaining with three minutes remaining, but successfully used one to reverse a foul call on Andre Jackson Jr. with 2:46 left, then unsuccessfully used the other to challenge a call on Taurean Prince.
Antetokounmpo, who had a triple-double with 22 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists, was unsurprisingly livid with the officials.
The call was egregious enough that crew chief Curtis Blair admitted his team screwed it up after the game in an interview with a pool reporter. Had Rivers still held a challenge, he would have won it.
From the NBA:
QUESTION: What was the final determination in confirming the call?
BLAIR: During live play we called illegal leg to leg to contact. During postgame review when we looked at the play there was no illegal contact on the play.
QUESTION: So if there was a challenge, which there was not at that point because Milwaukee didn’t have one available, that call would have been overturned?
Rivers concurred, via The Athletic:
“There was clearly not a foul,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “When you watch the video, the ref was blocked out by one of our players. You can’t guess at the end of the game. Both teams have played too hard.”
The loss was another brutal one for the Bucks, whose record sits at 4-9 this season and 21-28 under Doc Rivers. The team was missing star point guard Damian Lillard, who remains in the concussion protocol, but was ultimately done in by an 18-5 made-free-throw disparity.