The final moments of the Memphis Grizzlies’ 100-92 road loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Friday were very bizarre. As it turns out, J.B. Bickerstaff and others had a right to be furious.
By the conclusion of Friday evening, the Memphis Grizzlies collected their 33rd loss of the season. Though the players, coaches, and fan base are becoming accustomed to the repetitive losses, the officiating crew in Charlotte toyed with the Grizzlies’ emotions late in the contest.
Halfway through the fourth and final quarter of Memphis’ road matchup against the Charlotte Hornets, the Grizzlies led 89-83 following two made free-throws via Joakim Noah.
It appeared as if the Memphis Grizzlies were well on their way to a rare victory in 2019. It would have been just their third wins in 17 tries within the New Year. In true 2018-19 Grizzly fashion, they gave up the lead — and the game — but it was not entirely due to lapses made by Memphis’ players and coaches.
As the clock displayed 2:55, Charlotte’s Marvin Williams tied the game at 90 with a three-pointer. On their next possession, Williams repeated the act to enable the Hornets to take a three-point lead. The end was near by this point, with the Charlotte Hornets owning momentum from their home crowd. However, it was not a sealed deal.
WIth 33.1 seconds remaining in the match, Memphis’ Marc Gasol drove through the lane for a quick two-handed dunk. This cut the Grizzlies’ deficit to four points at 96-92.
This delivered a Charlotte timeout. With the Memphis Grizzlies applying backcourt pressure, the Hornets had difficulty in getting the basketball up the floor and over the half-court line. In reality, Memphis had forced an eight-second violation. Possession should have been regained by the Grizzlies.
The conclusion at this instance? The whistle was blown prematurely by the official — Tony Brothers, to be exact. The NBA’s officiating crew chalked it up as an inadvertent whistle. This nixed the opportunity Memphis had earned to take possession. Especially given the close game, the mistake was inexcusable.
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But wait. There was more. Yes, more.
The Charlotte Hornets utilized Nicolas Batum to toss the ball into play the second time around. 25.6 seconds read on the clock. They only had a fraction of a second to get the ball inbounds and beyond half-court. It was risky of them to even inbound to a Hornet in the backcourt with such minuscule time to move the rock ahead.
Batum passed the basketball to Malik Monk in the backcourt as he sprinted ahead. Monk dribbled the ball twice prior to running ahead of the half-court line, but the NBA’s officiating crew failed to call the violation yet again.
Unreal. Mind-boggling. Frustrating.
There are plenty of words to be used at the time. The referees seemingly did not want to see the Memphis Grizzlies succeed in the final moments of this match.
Tony Brothers realized how bad the back-to-back mistakes were that he accepted a major tongue lashing from Grizzlies Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff, where J.B. had every right to be slapped with a Technical. Brothers took it because he deserved it. These two possessions were undeniably awful in quality.
The Memphis Grizzlies went on to lose by eight points. All of a sudden, their frustrations stemming from their lackluster play down the final stretch were transferred to being angry over the officials’ flaws.
To make matters worse for the Grizzlies, this was the same crew that botched a jump ball situation in a close ending in Memphis’ recent loss to the Denver Nuggets.
On Saturday, the NBA released their standard Last Two Minute report, also known as L2M. It comes to no surprise to the Memphis Grizzlies’ players, coaches, and fans that the league highlights errors in that final minute of play in Charlotte.
The NBA's L2M came out and confirmed what Brevin and I related to our audience. There was an inadvertent whistle, followed by what should have been an 8-second violation against CHA. That's why we were upset.
— Pete Pranica (@PetePranica) February 3, 2019
The association concludes that the sequence was an incorrect non-call when Malik Monk caught the pass and dribbled up the floor. The report’s statement for the play reads as follows:
"Monk (CHA) receives the inbound pass and does not establish it in the frontcourt within 0.7 seconds and an 8 second violation should be called."
For the L2M reports in general, it is nice to see the league being able to use these as lessons learned of sorts for their officiating crews. The NBA is admitting its flaws and mistakes. Yet in this case, it is salt in the wound for the Grizzlies. Memphis knew errors were made as the final moments played out. This is where it would be better off for the NBA to scrap the idea of the L2M reports as it makes their officials look bad (or worse than they actually are).
For the Memphis Grizzlies, if they are truly attempting to tank their season away to increase their odds of retaining their 2019 first round Draft pick, things are going their way. Even the referees are assisting them in their losing efforts. It is becoming a trend for NBA officials to have late-game gaffes, costing Memphis some victories.
Memphis will hit the hardwood next on Sunday when they face David Fizdale and the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden at 12:00 PM (noon) Central Time.