The Milwaukee Bucks have been on the receiving end of some bad calls off late and they finally benefited from one in their 101-100 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday. Damian Lillard hit an incredible game-winner in that contest, but the possession should have ended right when it began, as Giannis Antetokounmpo had stepped out of bounds.
Giannis blatantly standing out of bounds and referee LITERALLY looked the other way 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/mpAbtklIFi
— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) November 19, 2024
Antetokounmpo had blocked Alperen Sengun’s shot on the play before this one and Brook Lopez managed to secure the rebound. Lopez then passed the ball to the two-time MVP to initiate the fast break but his foot was out of bounds when he received it. You can check out the entire sequence below.
That’s a big blunder by the officials. The one standing at the baseline was looking down the court and it meant he missed what was a fairly obvious out-of-bounds call. This mistake was just the latest in a string of terrible ones made by officials recently.
The Bucks were the team that felt the most hard done by. In their game against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday last week, Antetokounmpo was called for a foul on Ron Holland when the score was tied with a second left in the fourth quarter.
It didn’t seem as if any foul had been committed on that play and the L2M report later confirmed that it was the incorrect call. Fortunately for the Bucks, Holland missed both free throws and they won 127-120 in overtime. They weren’t quite as lucky the next time, though.
In the dying moments of Saturday’s game between the Bucks and the Charlotte Hornets, Antetokounmpo was called for a foul on LaMelo Ball. Replays showed that Ball had tripped over his own feet but the Bucks had no challenges remaining and the call stood.
Ball marched over to the line and sunk both free throws to give the Hornets a 115-114 lead. That would end up being the final score as well, as Antetokounmpo missed a potential game-winner.
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers blasted the officials after losing to the Hornets and you could understand his frustrations. Crew Chief Curtis Blair later admitted in the pool report that Antetokounmpo should not have been called for a foul but that didn’t exactly ease the pain for the Bucks.
With two big calls going against them, the Bucks certainly would feel like they deserved a bit of a break. That win against the Rockets at Fiserv Forum saw them improve to 5-9 on the season and they’ll look to make it two on the bounce when they face the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday at 7:30 PM ET.
As for the other major bad calls that have been made by the officials recently, they involved game-winners as well. Jayson Tatum appeared to travel when he hit one for the Boston Celtics against the Toronto Raptors on Saturday. The NBA later admitted in the L2M report that he had indeed traveled and the officials missed it.
Then on Sunday, Julius Randle hit a game-winner for the Minnesota Timberwolves against the Phoenix Suns. Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer felt Randle had pushed off Josh Okogie to get open, but the NBA didn’t think he committed a foul there. What they did admit in the L2M report, though, was that Randle traveled.
It’s not a good look for the NBA that the officials are making such big mistakes this often. It hurts the image of the league but I am not sure there’s anything they can do to fix it instantly.
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