The final play of Game 2 of the Western Conference finals was epic, but the amount of time that it took to get to it and all the reviews along the way is something the NBA needs to look into this offseason.
In case you missed it, here’s the game-winning play for the Phoenix Suns, who now have a 2-0 lead in the series heading to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Thursday night:
A pretty nifty inbounds play.
But here’s the issue: Deandre Ayton’s tip-in dunk off a perfect alley-oop pass from Jae Crowder with 0.7 seconds left was the penultimate play of 90 seconds of clock time that took an astonishing 33 minutes in real-time to complete. During that span, there were five field goals and five reviews by officials.
The most annoying of those reviews was the one that was conducted after Patrick Beverley poked the ball away from Devin Booker with the Suns trailing by one and less than 10 seconds remaining. Though the original call was Phoenix ball, instant replay showed Booker actually touched the ball last even though Beverley’s swipe forced it out of his hand, so referees reversed the call. While technically correct, that call is one that persistently irks many fans, as it was clearly Beverley who initiated the contact with the ball that ultimately forced it out of Booker’s hand and out of bounds. TNT announcer Jeff Van Gundy spoke for many when he proclaimed it “bad for the game.”
Patrick Beverley has done his job. Suns try to have Bridges screen for Booker with Kennard on the floor. Really nice show and recover, Beverley able to recover and get a hand on the ball. pic.twitter.com/JEJkCKR0Ss
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) June 23, 2021
Bad as it was, the call didn’t end up costing the Suns anything but time, as Paul George, a career 87% free throw shooter, missed his fourth and fifth free throws of the night to keep it a one-point game after Phoenix fouled him to stop the clock.
“I’m not going to put too much on that,” George said afterward. “Obviously it was an opportunity that was missed. Pat made an unbelievable play that put me in position to extend the lead. I’m always confident at the free-throw line. I’ve always been very successful in clutch moments at the free-throw line.”
But not last night, because, as Rasheed Wallace might say, ball don’t lie.
On the ensuing possession, Mikal Bridges missed a potential game-winning three-pointer with under a second remaining, but the Clippers’ Terrance Mann appeared to touch the ball as it went out of bounds. When the refs initiated another replay just to be sure, the Suns took advantage, with coach Monty Williams consulting with his team despite being out of timeouts. That’s when the game-winning play from Crowder to Ayton was drawn up.
“Adam Silver [has] gotta do something about these reviews,” the Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor tweeted. “Hire however many people it takes to make the process go quicker. Casual NBA fans just tune out. To make them hardcore fans, there can’t be these long reviews. And stop rewarding players who flop and whine. Ruins the product. Suns-Clippers was an unbelievable game, aside from the reviews. I loved watching it, but as a hardcore fan, I choose to deal with the downsides. Casual fans just tune out. You want them to watch and stick around? Make the product better. No one wants to watch Scott Foster.”
We couldn’t agree more. The NBA is changing its rules. It should change its reviews too.
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