One of the most expensive moments for the Miami Heat at the end of the season, a 100-96 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday, happened in Secaucus, New Jersey.
With 8:28 to go into the third quarter of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat came three points off the board and the Celtics’ lead – once apparently falling to 56-54 – grew to 67- 54 with two free throws by Robert Williams. Minutes after Max Strus hit a three-pointer to seemingly narrow Boston’s lead to 56-54 with 11:04 to go in the third, an official in Secaucus, where the NBA Replay Center is headquartered, decided that this couldn’t count. A replay, the NBA said, showed the wing stepped out of bounds before hoisting its long-distance jump in Miami.
Erik Spoelstra said he was ‘in shock’ about the verdict.
“The fact that it happened 3-4, five minutes into playtime changes the context of how you play. We started to get some momentum,” said the coach. “You feel like it’s a seven, eight point game and you look up and it’s a 13 point game, and there’s no explanation for it but it’s gone back to the league offices. You feel like when it’s like that happens, it has to happen immediately and you can adjust accordingly.”
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In a tight contest with a trip to the 2022 NBA finals at stake, the call was significant and, in a sense, the difference in the game. With 50.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Strus made three more to narrow the Celtics’ lead to 98-96. Boston won by five and scored the final two points after the Heat made an intentional error with 11.4 seconds left.
The call itself was also controversial, and not just because of the delayed decision to undo the shot. Reruns made available on the ESPN broadcast seemingly never provided conclusive evidence Strus even stepped outside the field, possibly with his left heel floating over the sideline.
It’s possible the NBA had access to additional angles not shown on the broadcast or in the FTX Arena.
‘Look, that’s not the reason we lost,’ said Spoelstra. “We still had plenty of chances. We just couldn’t control the game.”
Miami had a chance to win in the last minute. With 16.6 seconds to go, All-Star forward Jimmy Butler opened his eyes for a pull-up three from the right wing, but his potentially winning shot bounced off the front of the rim.
Even though Spoelstra didn’t want to use the reversed call as an excuse, he would like to see the NBA reconsider this rule and how long after officials are allowed to reverse calls.
In this case, officials destroyed the call at 2:36 later in the game and at 5:11 later in real time. The Celtics got on an 11-3 run after the Strus game and it basically turned into an 11-0 run after the three points were taken away.
“I’m sure they’ll look into that, and we’ll probably be the case study for it. I’m fine with things going the way they used to. They would look at it on the next foul or break, and look at it and notice it, but it was probably ten minutes of real time,” Spoelstra said. ‘I don’t cry or whine. Come on. We are defeated. Those were two competitive teams going for it. In the end we had a crack in it. As uneven as the game seemed, we had a crack in it… take those three out, no explanation.
“That’s the human side of it. That’s not the complaining side of it. Who knows if that would have changed anything at all?’
