The NBA believes De'Aaron Fox was not fouled on the Kings' final possession Friday night against the Phoenix Suns.
The league confirmed in its Last Two Minute Report that: "Beal's (PHX) left wrist makes clean contact with the ball and dislodges it away from Fox (SAC) prior to incidental contact occurring during Fox's upward shooting motion."
With 6.3 seconds left in the game, Fox took an inbounds pass, then started driving toward the hoop. Suns guard Bradley Beal slid over from the key and, in an attempt to knock the ball from Fox, took a swipe at it. Devin Booker came over to help double-team Fox, who lost control of the ball with 3.6 seconds left, and the Suns ran out the clock.
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Fox called out what he perceived to be an error immediately after the game and expressed bewilderment at the situation.
“I got fouled,” he said. “Wasn’t even close to the ball. You can go watch it. [Bradley Beal] very clearly got me, but whenever it’s me, they always say, ‘I didn’t see it,’ or, ‘Marginal contact.’ Doesn’t matter what the play was. If I got fouled, I got fouled. Trying to pick up the ball, he hits my whole arm, they get a steal.”
NBA
Even if the league admitted a mistake, it would have done little to ease the pain of a 108-107 loss that dropped Sacramento to the Western Conference's No. 9 seed, meaning it might have to play the Warriors in a win-or-go-home NBA Play-In Tournament.
It also would have been the second missed call in the past week: The NBA also said in a Two Minute Report on April 5 that rookie Colby Jones was fouled when he was slapped in the face on the final play of a one-point Kings loss in Boston. That foul wasn't called.
“It’s just tough when you can’t get a call, but the other team keeps getting calls and the officials feel that they’re right,” Kings coach Mike Brown said after Friday's game. “Then the Two Minute Report comes out … and [the refs] go home and sleep at night. We’re up all night fretting over the game because we’re fighting for our playoff lives.
“It’s tough to see it from my seat. I hope the officials were right on the no-call. Just a tough way to lose basketball games when stuff is as obvious as it is.”
However, the officials might be right this time, and the consequences for the Kings still are severe.