No one ever wants the referees to take over the end of an important NBA game.
But the final few minutes of the Warriors' thrilling NBA Finals Game 5 win over the Toronto Raptors featured several questionable calls by game officials Jason Phillips, James Capers and Ed Malloy.
With just over five and a half minutes left in the game Monday night, it appeared Kawhi Leonard traveled while on a fast break. None of the refs called it, though, and that led to a wide-open dunk by Norm Powell.
Somehow this wasn't a travel 🤔 pic.twitter.com/zgV9zVoPCh— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) June 11, 2019
A few minutes later, with the Warriors down 103-100, a Steph Curry 3-point try bounced off the rim, and DeMarcus Cousins was there for a put-back dunk. But the refs ruled it an offensive goaltend. They went to replay review and confirmed the call, even though it looked like the ball was coming off the cylinder.
Sports
Replay Review (Foster): whether call of offensive basket interference was correct in Q4 of #GSWatTOR. Ruling: Confirmed, offensive basket interference (ball was partially inside the cylinder). pic.twitter.com/ub1CNEwa9a— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) June 11, 2019
Cousins was involved in the next controversial play. With the Warriors nursing a one-point lead, he was called for an illegal screen with 15.7 seconds remaining.
It will be forgotten in history but Aron Baynes would never commit a moving screen up 1 with the NBA Finals on the line pic.twitter.com/iUbhAvdsfW— (Un)Official Aron Baynes Fan Club (@BaynesFanClub) June 11, 2019
Luckily for Cousins, the Warriors were able to get the defensive stand in the final seconds, so the offensive foul didn't come back to haunt them.
