LeBron James and Jayson Tatum seemed to agree that the officials made numerous critical errors during Monday’s close 133-131 loss between the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers.
The star of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics voiced their opinions on X, formerly Twitter, following a few judgements that went against Boston and denied them a second opportunity to win the game.
The play James is referring to happened with 3.2 seconds remaining in the game. With the game tied, Jaylen Brown drove right toward the baseline with T.J. McConnell and Benedict Mathurin covering him.
As Brown raised up to take the shot, Buddy Hield helped away from Jrue Holiday and attempted to contest the shot from behind. In doing so, Brown was hit in the back of the head, forcing him to miss the shot.
Almost immediately, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle initiated a coach’s challenge in an attempt to overturn the call and despite how it looked, the referees officiating the game reversed their decision and claimed that Hield did not foul Brown after all. The next day, the NBA released a report stating that they indeed made the right call in overturning the foul on Hield.
However, the report also revealed that the Pacers benefitted from two plays going their way when the Celtics should have been the beneficiaries of the calls. With two seconds to play, the referees missed a screen foul on Pacers center Myles Turner, which should have given the ball back to the Celtics.
Also, the report deemed Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis’ foul on Mathurin to be incorrect. Porzingis’ foul on Mathurin proved to be the difference maker, with the latter sinking the two free throws he was incorrectly given to seal the game for Indiana.
After the report began circulating around social media, Tatum took to X and expressed his displeasure with how the officiating essentially cost the Celtics a chance to win in both regulation and in overtime, if it needed that extra period.
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