And the officials admitted the referee’s mistake in the decisive moment of one of the most important games of the season.
Nikola Jokic he was clearly fouled 27 seconds before the end games against Phoenix, while his team was losing 120:123, but that foul was not called. He was apparently held by Sans center Deandre Ayton as they jumped for the ball, but it is surprising that the referees did not see and awarded an easily visible foul. The NBA League made an announcement on this occasion and the arbitrators determined in the analysis that it was a foul.
“Ayton (Phoenix) grabbed and held Jokic (Denver) by the right shoulder, affecting Jokic’s ability to fight for the ball on a pass“. However, the referees did not see that and directly damaged Denver, who would have had a chance to completely “open” the end of the game. Instead, the referees “closed” it, along with Ayton, whose unsportsmanlike foul they had to sanction. Phoenix is eventually won and tied the series at 2: 2. Look at that situation:
In a 3pt game, with 23 seconds left, all 3 referees missed this obvious foul on DeAndre Ayton, who does the old pro trick of pulling Jokic’s shoulder down with his inside hand as he goes to tip it with the other arm. This type of thing has been missed way too often this season.pic.twitter.com/OhnHuO7P8u
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown)May 8, 2023
Jokić is in Serbia on Monday evening according to the time punished for pushing away the boss of Phoenix who didn’t want to pass him the ball. Nikola was surprised at all by the conversation about the fact that he could be sanctionednot a front-row spectator touching him as a player, but that happened too.
The next match will be played on Thursday, May 9, at 4 a.m. Serbian time.