As the Utah Jazz tried to grab a comeback win against the Golden State Warriors on Monday night, a number of decisions by the referees went against them, the NBA acknowledged Tuesday.
In its daily Last Two Minute Report, the league said multiple officiating mistakes were made in the final 32.9 seconds. The first, and most egregious, occurred with 32.9 seconds left as Utah guard Jordan Clarkson rose up for a 3-pointer. The Jazz had been down by 14 entering the fourth quarter but had come back and led by two, meaning a 3 would have put them up by five, a big mountain for the Warriors to climb with less than a minute to go.
As Clarkson rose up, it appeared Golden State superstar Stephen Curry bumped him, but nothing was called. Curry missed a 3-pointer on the other end of the floor, but Kevon Looney got the offensive rebound and kicked it back out to Curry, who made the 3 this time to put the Warriors up one with 14.5 seconds to play.
“Curry (GSW) makes contact with Clarkson’s (UTA) arm during his jump shot attempt,” the league noted in its report.
After the game, Clarkson said, “Maybe it was the guy that was guarding me. You couldn’t call a foul on him late in the game.”
With 7 seconds to go, it was determined by the NBA that Golden State guard Jordan Poole fouled Clarkson on an inbounds, a call that was not made that would have given the ball to the Jazz.
“As Poole (GSW) moves off ball, he dislodges Clarkson (UTA) during the inbounds play,” the league said.
Then, as Clarkson missed a 3-point try with 4.9 seconds left that would have tied the game at 119, the league said Warriors All-Star Draymond Green fouled Rudy Gobert on the rebound attempt but it wasn’t called.
“Green (GSW) clamps Gobert’s (UTA) arm and restricts his ability to rebound,” the league said.
With 0.01 seconds officially on the clock, the referees ruled that the loose ball on the rebound was a dead ball, but it had never gone out of bounds.
“(Bojan) Bogdanovic (UTA) makes contact with the ball and it remains in bounds near the baseline,” the league said. “Green (GSW) plants his left foot in bounds and lifts his right foot off of the floor, establishing himself in bounds, and then makes contact with the ball and it never goes out of bounds.”
The Jazz’s lead atop the Western Conference standings dropped to 1.5 games over the Phoenix Suns with the loss.