NBA: Controversial whistle brings Dubs into extra time – that’s what the rules say

Two free throws by Kevin Durant just before the end of regular time in the first game of the finals cause excitement. The referees had originally whistled an offensive foul against KD – but after a review changed their decision to a defensive foul against LeBron James. That annoyed Tyronn Lue.

At 104:102 for Cleveland 40 seconds before the end Durant pulled to the basket. James stood in his way and took an offensive foul – at least that was the original call of the Refs. But after they watched the game again, they changed their whistle into a blocking foul against LeBron.

KD went to the free-throw line and equalized the game from there. Already during the game the Cavs complained loudly about the decision of the Refs, after the game at the press conference coach Tyronn Lue explained on top of that that the call of the Refs had been “wrong” and there had never been anything like it.

What he meant by that was not the decision in itself – because the replay clearly showed that James had no legal position to take an offensive foul. He moved much more into Durant’s path – clear defensive foul.

What caused a stir was the fact that the referees changed the decision. Normally they may not revise foul decisions – in this case, however, an exception was made.

The rules state that an offensive foul may be checked in the last two minutes of the game to see if the defender was in the restricted area or not (in which case an offensive foul is not possible, the decision would be changed to defensive foul).

This was not the case with LeBron, but the rules also state in this case that the referees, if they already check the action, may also check the defense position. If this was irregular – as in the case of LeBron – they may react and convert the offensive foul into a defensive foul in favor of the attacker. The referees’ actions in this action were therefore completely correct.

Referee Ken Mauer confirmed this in a statement after the match: “We weren’t sure whether James was in the Restrictred Area or not. That’s why we watched the play again. We are also allowed to assess whether the defender was in a legal defense position. He wasn’t, so we had to change the call.”