CHARLOTTE – A trophy has been presented to the NBA defensive player of the year with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s name on it, and in the Milwaukee Bucks‘ Over the last two games, the 7-footer has made end-of-game plays that could have been a highlight for such an award.
On Wednesday evening he blocked an inbound alley-oop attempt to guard Detroit’s Ron Holland II with a second left.
On SaturdayAntetokounmpo switched to the lightning-fast, 6-foot-4 Charlotte guard LaMelo Ball and bumped him to the point where he fell and lost his dribble with 7.3 seconds left.
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But in both cases a whistle ended each game. In both cases, Antetokounmpo was called for a foul.
Remarkably, in both cases, the NBA acknowledged that the whistle was blown incorrectly. The league issues a final two-minute report before each game that reviews all calls and non-calls, and on Thursday it said: “Any subsequent contact is incidental. The incorrect decision is incorrect, but the referees will initiate a replay review to determine the timing of the incorrect decision.”
The Bucks defeated the Pistons in overtime on Wednesday after Holland II missed two potential game-winning free throws.
Milwaukee lost 115-114 on Saturday, when Ball hit both of his free throws — and Antetokounmpo missed a potential game-winning shot of his own. And they didn’t have to wait a day to find out a mistake had been made.
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers talks with referee Brandon Schwab during the second half against the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center.
After the game, crew chief Curtis Blair acknowledged that the leg-to-leg contact they initially called on Antetokounmpo was incorrect.
“During the postgame review, when we looked at the play, there was no illegal contact with the play,” Blair said.
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He added that if the Bucks had had a timeout and a challenge at that point, the call would have been overturned. The Bucks had used their final challenge on a block/charge call on forward Taurean Prince with 1:07 remaining.
Rivers met with the media before Blair’s report to the media was released Charlotte Observer was completed, and he continued a lengthy tirade:
“I thought the last play was the referee blowing a call. These are now back-to-back games where an incorrect decision was made on the last play. LaMelo Ball fell. He just fell down. There was no one near him. Slipped on his own. If we come up with the ball, it’s game over. So back to back games now we’ve had a decision against us that was wrong.
“We got lucky in Detroit, the kid missed two free throws. Tonight LaMelo Ball made the free throws. And clearly there was no foul. If you watch the video, the referee who called the foul was blocked by one of our players. You can’t guess at the end of a game. Both teams played too hard.
“The free throws tonight were 21 to 11 in their favor in the game Giannis played. Giannis took one free throw. Go back three times when Giannis dunks, the whole team fouled him. The whole team fouled him And it’s a no-call Giannis drives to the basket, because he’s powerful, and they hit him in the arm and they can hit him in the face and because he keeps going, he doesn’t get any credit for the contact he makes. brings about.
“Giannis was in the paint – you were at the game, right? – he was in the paint all night. Can someone explain to me how Giannis gets a free throw? But more importantly, we played through all that, it’s coming We got the move we wanted. We wanted Giannis on LaMelo Ball, our biggest defenseman, one of the best defensemen in the league. And we call a phantom foul.
“I would probably be frustrated if this was just tonight, but now it’s been consecutive nights that this has happened to us.”
Asked if he had received an explanation for the call, Rivers said, “He had no explanation. I think you guys should go to the referees and make the pool report and get an explanation. Let me first ask: how did he see it? Unless he (Taurean Prince) can see, there is no way he can see it. And it wasn’t a foul. So that’s what upsets us. We’re playing hard, we got Dame (Lillard) out, we got Khris Middleton out, we got guys (hurt), we’re playing great, we’re playing together, and you just can’t do what you did at the end of the game with that call.
“If you’re not 100% sure, even if you’ve seen contact, but you’re not sure you can’t make it. But the one thing you can’t do is guess. And that was a complete gamble and we got hurt because of it. And that’s just not fair.”
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Clearly frustrated by not only those calls but also the fact that Antetokounmpo only shot one free throw, Rivers added: “Giannis is being guarded by two hands – every rule is broken when he is being guarded and we won’t mention it, but then get these little tick-tack errors at the end of a game that is the game deciders. Both plays – which I think is crazy – both plays Giannis was involved in. Here’s the rule: If you don’t foul Giannis, you can’t foul him, right? You have to do one of the two. So it’s just very frustrating.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo met with the media after the pool report was prepared and was told that the official had admitted an erroneous call.
“I’ve been in the league, this is my twelfthe year, rule No. 1 – don’t give your money away,” he said. “And rule No. 2, don’t forget rule No. 1. So I’m not going to comment on that. Thank you.”
But he liked that Rivers stood up for him so loudly.
“I appreciate it,” Antetokounmpo said. “I certainly appreciate it and he has my back, I have his back.”
This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: NBA admits Giannis was mishandled after Bucks loss to Hornets