Kevin Durant defended referees while ripping into the league’s last two-minute report. LeBron James and Steve Kerr both expressed similar sentiments.
The referees missed two crucial calls in the last two minutes of the Golden State Warriors’ loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Christmas Day. In real-time, the two calls looked pretty obvious yet the officials didn’t blow their whistles. LeBron James should have been called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim and Richard Jefferson should have picked up a personal foul for tripping Kevin Durant.
Saying they missed the two calls isn’t just speculation–that’s a statement from from the NBA itself. The league released its last two minute report and admitted that they messed up. It wasn’t a completely shocking admission, but it’s something the NBA now does.
Since March 2015, the league issues reports of the final two minutes of a game. They highlight correct calls and, more importantly, incorrect calls (and non-calls). They become a topic of discussion after a game ends in controversy.
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Durant should have been shooting free throws at the end of the Christmas Day game, according to the NBA. It didn’t do anything to change the result. It was just an admission from the league that their officials missed two pretty obvious calls.
The Warriors’ All-Star was pretty upset afterwards, but, surprisingly, he defended the referees. He told the media that he didn’t like the last two report:
"The refs didn’t lose us that game. We lost that game; we could’ve been better. I think it’s (expletive) that the NBA throws the refs under the bus like that. This happened to be in our favor – it’s not even in our favor; we don’t get the win – but to say that I got fouled and the tech . . . just move on. You don’t throw the refs under the bus like that, because the next game that group of refs, or whoever it is, they’re going to come out and they’re going to ref the game and they’re going to be tense when they’re reffing the game and they’re going to try to get every play right."
Steve Kerr built on that sentiment, supporting Durant’s argument. USA Today‘s Sam Amick wrote a story about the head coach who gave his ideas on the last two minute report. Kerr said he appreciates the league working towards transparency, but he suggested the system is broken and it puts officials in unfair positions.
LeBron James, who has a very powerful voice in the league, also talked about how he doesn’t like the two minute report:
"I’m not a fan of the two-minute report,” James said after the Cavs practiced on Wednesday. “I think it discredits what the referees are doing for 48 minutes. If that’s the case, you might as well do a 48-minute report…It’s not fair to the referees that you only talk about the final two minutes of the game and not the first 46. There’s plays that’s missed, there’s plays that called throughout 48 minutes that don’t get talked about."
James’ concerns are probably in the right place, but his explanation seems odd. His argument that focusing on the last two minutes when there are 46 other ones seems arbitrary makes sense. It would be impractical to try to release a report of the full game.
While the referees should be held accountable for the entire game, it’s not smart to just put them on blast. As James said, they miss calls all game. It hurts the league’s credibility to admit their officials missed a lot of game-altering calls especially in close contests.
When the league’s biggest stars question something, you can expect some kind of action. Durant and James have joined Dwyane Wade in critiquing the current system. Adam Silver is a willing listener and has no issues taking criticism and making adjustments in order to create the best possible Association.
It’s admirable the NBA wants to be as transparent as possible, especially when you see how poorly run an organization like the NFL is run. The league just needs to hold their officials accountable and try to train them enough to where human mistakes are minimized.