The NBA has confirmed that referees made three crucial mistakes late in the Detroit Pistons‘ loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday. Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff expressed his frustration with the officiating after the game, especially with crew chief John Goble.
According to the NBA L2M report, the referees made three errors in the last two minutes of the Mavs’ 116-114 overtime win over the Pistons.
The first mistake was an incorrect non-call on Jalen Duren, who made body contact with Anthony Davis. It resulted in a turnover for the Mavericks, but it should have been a foul on Duren, and Davis would have shot two free throws.
The next two mistakes were more crucial because they happened in the last 10 seconds of the game, when the Pistons needed a basket to force another overtime.
With around 10 seconds left in the game, Cade Cunningham drove to the basket and made contact with Cooper Flagg. Cunningham ended up missing the shot, but the referees made another incorrect non-call. It would have sent the Pistons superstar to the free-throw line, and he could have tied the score.
The last mistake was not calling an out-of-bounds violation on Davis for touching the basketball while his foot was outside the court. It would have given Bickerstaff a chance to call a timeout and draw up a play that could have sent the game to a second overtime or won them the contest.
Bickerstaff Called Out Ref Goble
Speaking at his postgame press conference, Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff was not amused with crew chief John Goble. Bickerstaff didn’t name-drop Goble, but he pointed out some of the calls that Goble didn’t make. He even accused the veteran ref of coming into the game with bias.
“The referee is coming into the game not being objective, OK? That same referee, at halftime, I get my technical foul. I don’t say anything to him. I go to grab Cade to get Cade off the floor. He gives me a technical foul. That’s my job to get my player away from the referee, get us back to halftime so we can have the conversations that we need to have,” Bickerstaff said, via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
Goble confirmed to The Athletic’s Christian Clark after the game that he called a technical foul on Bickerstaff for excessive complaining. He also explained that Ausar Thompson was ejected for aggressively approaching him and then making contact.
Fans were shocked that Goble made the quick decision to toss Thompson out, causing a stir on social media, as reported by Sports Illustrated.
NBA Confirms Why Bickerstaff Didn’t Get Timeout
Another gripe coach J.B. Bickerstaff had with John Goble was not giving him a timeout in the last seconds of the game, when Jalen Duren made a couple of putback attempts. Bickerstaff claimed that Goble ignored him even though they were in proximity to each other.
However, the NBA’s L2M report explained that when Bickerstaff signaled for a timeout with 4.9 seconds left, Duren wasn’t in control of the basketball. It was deemed a correct non-call by the referees.
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