Were the Warriors robbed? NBA admits Kevin Durant was fouled in final seconds of Cavaliers 1-point win
Warriors forward Kevin Durant sat on the floor in disbelief while the Cleveland Cavaliers celebrated. The Cavs’ Richard Jefferson ran down the court with a fist in the air.
Just as they had in the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers defeated the Warriors in the teams’ Christmas Day showdown, winning, 109-108. Instead of the Warriors’ superstar off-season addition getting an opportunity to win the game on the final possession, Durant was sent sprawling to the floor after catching the ball in the right corner.
The NBA admitted Monday that Jefferson should have been called for a foul after making foot-to-foot contact with Durant, causing him to trip and lose his balance. The referees swallowed their whistles and Durant flung a toss toward the basket from his rear after falling to the ground beyond the three-point line on the wing.
“I would’ve made that shot if he didn’t trip me up,” Durant told the Undefeated on Monday. “But they ain’t calling it on him at their crib.”
It was one of two calls from the game that the league’s two-minute officiating review says were missed in the final moments. The Cavaliers benefited from both.
The league said LeBron James also should have been assessed a technical foul for deliberately hanging on the rim after his dunk with 1:43 remaining.
“There’s a lot of fouls that go on throughout the course of the game that doesn’t get called,” Cavaliers Coach Tyronn Lue said before Monday’s game at Detroit. “I can tell you this is a tough game to officiate, the players we have, the way guys can draw fouls and contact.
“That was an incidental play at the end of the game. You don’t want this game decided on two free throws at the end of the game. There wasn’t much contact to me.”
Kyrie Irving’s 13-foot turnaround jumper with 3.4 seconds to go proved to be the game winner when no foul was called on Jefferson against Durant. Irving had the game’s final four points in the last minute after a Stephen Curry three-pointer put the Warriors ahead, 108-105, with 1:14 remaining.
The teams have one more regular season matchup on Jan. 16 in Oakland.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Twitter: @ShotgunSpr
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