The verdict is in on the officiating in the 76ers-Jazz game. Was Donovan Mitchell right?
Well, yes and no.
The NBA released its "Last Two Minutes" report – a complete review of all the calls and no-calls that were made by the officials – for Wednesday’s Sixers 131-123 overtime win over the Jazz. These reports are done for every game, provided the contest is close enough for the calls to have made any difference.
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Mitchell was ejected from the game for earning two technical fouls for berating officials, and both Mitchell and Rudy Gobert openly complained to the media about the referees’ calls late in the game.
The league had quite a bit to unpack, as they listed no fewer than 50 plays they reviewed. The report found six incorrect rulings, three that benefitted the 76ers, and three that went the Jazz’s way.
Here are the six missed calls, as ruled by the NBA:
- With 1:14 left in regulation, Joel Embiid drew Gobert into the air with a pump fake and was bumped as he tried a hook shot. No foul was called.
- 1:03 left in regulation – Jazz guard Bojan Bogdanovic traveled as a result of a 76ers double team, and it was not called.
- 0:59 left in regulation – As Bogdanovic passed out of that double team, Ben Simmons deflected the ball with his foot. The kicked ball violation wasn’t called.
- 0:39 left in regulation – Embiid fouled Mitchell on a putback attempt, not called.
- 1:02 left in overtime – Tobias Harris traveled, not called.
- 1:01 left in overtime – Gobert was in the lane for five seconds without actively guarding an opponent, no call.
Six calls out of 50, when you consider everything going on at once in an NBA game, is pretty good. That’s a B in school. And not one of the calls was what you would call game-changing.
NBA
Mitchell will likely get little satisfaction from the league’s review, but at least the league acknowledged that both technical foul calls against him were indeed correct.