The Cleveland Cavaliers suffered a tough loss on Tuesday night against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden. It was a close game throughout with both teams unwilling to give an inch. It’s a shame, however, that the result was mired by a couple of bad calls toward the end of the game. Apparently, Cavs star Donovan Mitchell was right when he called out the game officials after the loss.
In the aftermath of their 105-103 loss to the Knicks, Mitchell revealed that he felt the referees missed a couple of foul calls on him down the stretch. As it turns out, he was absolutely correct. The NBA’s Last Two Minute Report proves that there were two blown calls late in the game that could have changed the outcome of the contest.
With less than a minute remaining and the Knicks up by three points, Mitchell saw his drive attempt swatted away by Knicks big man Isaiah Hartenstein. Apparently, the Cavs guard was fouled by RJ Barrett even before Mitchell’s attempt was blocked. The referees didn’t see the foul and they let the game play on.
Even more gut-wrenching for the Cavs is how the game officials missed another crucial call in the dying seconds of the game. Mitchell had a chance to tie it with less than 10 seconds remaining, but he missed his lay-up attempt as Hartenstein went up to contest his shot. According to the Last Two Minute Report, Donovan Mitchell was fouled on the play, and he should have gotten two free throws to tie the game and potentially send it to overtime. The refs missed that call, too.
Unfortunately, there’s nothing the Cavs can do about it now. This report just makes the loss even tougher to swallow for them.