Late in the fourth quarter on Friday, Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith was strangely called for a foul on a layup attempt by Boston Celtics guard Evan Turner. The Cavaliers were up by four with less than 10 seconds to play, and it looked like a horrible mistake on Smith's part. That is, until you watched the replay and saw that no contact was made.
In the NBA's Last Two Minute Report, the call was determined to be incorrect. Judge for yourself:
It's nice that the NBA acknowledged the mistake, since Smith had his hands up to indicate he was conceding the layup. This one was obvious. If you're a Cleveland player or fan, though, this doesn't really help matters. Turner's three-point play set up Avery Bradley's game-winning 3-pointer on Boston's next possession. If the call hadn't been made, the Cavaliers almost certainly would have won the game.
Whoops.
