Did a questionable call cause the Memphis Grizzlies to lose?

The Memphis Grizzlies played a hard game against the Denver Nuggets, but ultimately fell short in a 102-103 loss. Jokic played a great game and the Grizzlies never looked like they had it all together.

Ja Morant didn’t play a great game, but he flashed some greatness in the second half. Dillon Brooks also started off the game playing poorly, but bounced back and ended up leading the team in scoring.

Despite this, when the Grizzlies were down by a point with one possession left, Taylor Jenkins drew up a play for Ja Morant. It was a great play and Morant was running full speed with the ball toward the hoop.

The Grizzlies win was dependent on whether or not he could score on Nikola Jokic. Morant attacked.

Jokic would stay in solid defensive positioning, but make contact with Morant on the drive. The referee immediately threw his hand up, signaling a foul on Jokic. The commentators spoke accordingly, talking about how Morant would be taking free throws to try and put his team ahead.

Memphis Grizzlies players were confused, questioning the call on the court

But the Grizzlies players on the court looked furious. Apparently, the referee wasn’t signaling for a foul. It’s unclear why he put his hand up, but the foul was called on a Grizzlies player after a Nuggets rebound.

The officials would gather and review the play. Normally, these reviews take way too long, causing fans to wonder what they’re doing. This was not the case. It couldn’t have been more than a minute before they announced that the call on the court was correct and the Nuggets would get possession of the ball, sealing a loss for Memphis.

While Jokic’s defense was clean, the referee should not have thrown his hand up that early if he wasn’t calling a foul on the Nuggets’ center.

A strong theory as to how this happened is simple. The referee was expecting Ja Morant to draw contact, so he was prepared to make a foul call. When this didn’t happen, he made the movement accidentally, confusing everybody in the process.

It’s not the worst thing in the world to happen, especially considering the fact that it probably shouldn’t have been called a foul, but it still hurts.

This is not the first time that questionable officiating has taken away the Grizzlies chance at a win. Just before the All-Star break, Ja Morant was mauled on a drive and not given a call, leading the Bucks to a 5-on-4, where they’d hit the game winning shot.