NEW YORK (AP) – The NBA says two calls were missed in the final moments of Cleveland’s win over Golden State on Sunday, and both aided the Cavaliers in what became their one-point victory.
The league said Cleveland star LeBron James should have been assessed a technical foul for deliberately hanging on the rim after his dunk with 1:43 remaining, and that Cavaliers forward Richard Jefferson should have been called for fouling the Warriors’ Kevin Durant on the game’s final play.
Jefferson’s feet appeared to get tangled with Durant’s on that last play . Durant tumbled to the floor, and could only manage a one-handed fling toward the basket as time expired.
Cleveland won the NBA Finals rematch 109-108.
“There’s a lot of fouls that go on throughout the course of the game that doesn’t get called,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said before Monday night’s game at Detroit. “I can tell you this is a tough game to officiate, the players we have, the way guys can draw fouls and contact. That was an incidental play at the end of the game. You don’t want this game decided on two free throws at the end of the game. There wasn’t much contact to me.”