After a Christmas Day back-and-forth of debate, the NBA cleared the air on what should have been called during the closing minutes of Golden State’s 99-92 win over Cleveland on Monday.
The league’s Last Two Minute Report, which evaluates each officiating call and non-call over the final 120 seconds of the game, revealed that LeBron James was indeed fouled by Kevin Durant during the final possessions of the contest. The report states that Durant fouled James three times in that span, including twice on a James drive with under 30 seconds remaining.
James said as much after the game, telling reporters, “He fouled me twice, but whatever. What are you going to do about it?” Durant responded by saying James is “too big for that. He’s too big. That ain’t no foul.”
At Wednesday’s practice, Durant discussed the findings from the Last Two Minute Report.
“It doesn’t change the outcome, it doesn’t change what happened in the rest of the game,” Durant said. “It’s more than just two minutes to play basketball. But, I can see why they made those calls and came up with that report. I understand it’s a physical game and they can miss some calls.”
Kevin Durant discusses yesterday’s 2-minute report: pic.twitter.com/DJNJfLTjMH
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) December 27, 2017
Teammate Draymond Green called Last Two Minute Reports “pointless” at Wednesday’s practice and said that too many observers think they know what is happening on the court.
Draymond Green called the NBA’s two minute report “pointless” pic.twitter.com/PTjskXgxjc
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) December 27, 2017
“In the NBA and basketball in general, people think they’ve got all the answers,” Green said. “And so, with people that think they’ve got all the answers, they don’t know how to dissect the game of basketball.
“For instance, there’s this thought of like, ‘aw man, you turned the ball over with four seconds to go. You lost, you’re out of the game.’ No you didn’t. That game was lost in the third quarter, that game was lost in the second quarter, that turnover you had in the third quarter matters just as much as the turnover in the fourth quarter. But people don’t view it that way.”
Green wondered why only the last two minutes of the game are judged and not the rest of it with equal scrutiny.
“Why would you judge just the last two minutes of the game? What about the call that was missed in the first quarter? What about the call that was missed in the third quarter? That call could have started a whole run for them and changed the entire game.”
