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Following a Christmas Day debacle in which controversial calls marred the end of a game between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers, Warriors forward Draymond Green called the league’s Last Two Minute reports “pointless” in an article highlighted on ESPN.com.
Why would you just judge 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.
Following Green’s statements, NBA Referees, via their Twitter account, picked up on Green’s criticism and amplified it:
Our own internal disagreement about whether each play was a foul highlights something else - the way the #L2M reports unnecessarily, and incorrectly in some cases, amplify an arbitrary moment in a game. We agree with this, on the L2M being "pointless": https://t.co/rTIuDjBeFy
— NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) December 29, 2017
Last Two Minute reports run down officiating decisions during the final 120 seconds of closely contested games. They were instituted to provide transparency to critical calls and non-calls. Since their institution in March of 2015, they’ve stoked controversy among fans reviewing them and between officials and the league. Another related point of contention is late-game out-of-bounds calls and the ability to review them or not.
Do you agree with Green’s comments? And, do you think L2M reports help officials call the game better, or do they provide more trouble for those involved after the fact? Let us know in the comments.
(h/t slamonline.com)