The jump ball in the Orlando Magic’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers was an error according to the NBA. The officials should have given the Magic a chance.
The number one question following Wednesday’s Orlando Magic loss to the Los Angeles Lakers was: What just happened?
With 0.6 seconds left, the Magic were inbounding with a chance to win the game. Their only option was really to try to lob the ball toward the rim and hope Aaron Gordon could catch it and throw it down.
The Magic never got that chance. As Mario Hezonja hurled the ball in the air, the clock started before someone even touched the ball. Confusion reigned as the referees blew the play dead and went to the replay center.
Someone started the clock too soon, that much was clear. What rule to follow was not.
The Replay Center and the officials at the Staples Center agreed that because the ball was in the air, there was no possession and so the inadvertent whistle meant there should be a jump ball at center court. With 0.6 seconds left, that left the game completely over.
The NBA says that was wrong.
In its Last 2 Minutes Report, the NBA said the officials made the incorrect call. The Magic should have gotten a chance to replay that inbound pass with 0.6 seconds left. Since the ball was in the air, there was no possession and so the error should have been in the Magic’s favor.
The NBA has determined that the ruling at the end of the Magic-Lakers game last night was incorrect. The Magic should've retained possession on the sideline at the nearest spot with 0.6 seconds left. Here's the league's comment from its 2-minute report: pic.twitter.com/a3ZJVEy3of
— Josh Robbins (@JoshuaBRobbins) March 8, 2018
The frustration the Magic felt after the game was warranted. They certainly expressed it after the game. It was all anyone could talk about.
The anger was not so much directed at losing the game. It was that the team did not even have the chance to win the game with every last second of the game.
Aaron Gordon especially seemed frustrated with how the game ended. Both with the team losing its last possession and the game essentially being decided on a pair of Brook Lopez free throws.
.@OrlandoMagic forward Aaron Gordon was very frustrated after Wednesday's loss to the Lakers, saying it is disappointing that they didn't even get a chance to win the game. #PureMagic #NBA pic.twitter.com/95skfQzUA1
— Bally Sports Florida & Bally Sports Sun (@BallySportsFL) March 8, 2018
"“Obviously, you’ve got to change the rule. That’s an inadvertent whistle, a foul down the stretch. Vuc played perfect defense. They called a foul. They gave them the game. For the most part, the referees did a good job throughout the game. Just down that stretch, that’s bad. You’ve got to change the rule. An inadvertent whistle didn’t give us a chance to win. That’s not how the game of basketball should go.”"
The NBA reviewed Nikola Vucevic‘s foul too and ruled that it was a correct call because Vucevic made contact with Brook Lopez’s head.
The Magic will not file an official protest. There is no getting this game back. It will still count as a loss.
Orlando can certainly focus on the lack of opportunity to get that last desperate shot. But they should also point to an 11-0 run they gave up in the fourth quarter or the 15-point lead they lost in the first quarter. Or the foul they committed late in the game with a one-point lead. There were many moments the Magic lost that game.
But the final play was a symbol of the team’s frustration. And Orlando was deservedly frustrated with how the game ended. All the team wanted was a chance.
Next: Grades: Los Angeles Lakers 108, Orlando Magic 107
An officiating mistake did not give the team that.