NBA officials have been accused by fans of gifting the Miami Heat three points in the Game Two win against the Denver Nuggets, which if cancelled out would have forced the game into overtime.
Miami tied the NBA Finals series at 1-1 with a 108-111 win on Denver's court. Heat star Jimmy Butler put up 21 points, four rebounds, and nine assists, but some fans believe one of his assists for a Gabe Vincent open three in the third shouldn't have counted.
Butler drove into the paint and managed to find Vincent wide open for the shot with the Heat in the middle of staging a comeback early in the third after trailing Denver by six at half-time. But it appeared that Butler stepped out of bounds before delivering the pass to Vincent.
The refs missed it but fans haven't. "One of the many gifts this evening," one Denver fan said, accusing the refs of favouring Butler and Co. "Refs gave Miami everything that game," another furious fan tweeted.
It wasn't the only controversial call that appeared to favour Miami. The second questionable call came with just over four and a half minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Miami's Bam Adebayo blocked a floater attempt by Jamal Murray and it was called clean in the moment, but the ball appeared to be past its apex when he made contact.
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It could have been called goaltending and Denver awarded two points. Such mistakes may have seen Denver heading into Game Three on Miami's court needing just two more wins to declare themselves NBA champions. However, coach Michael Malone didn't focus on referee mistakes - but those made by his team.
Let's talk about effort. I mean it's the NBA Finals, and we're talking about effort," Malone said. "That's a huge concern of mine, and you guys thought I was just making up a storyline after Game 1 when I said we didn't play well."
Malone added: "Tonight, the starting lineup at the start of the game, it was 10–2 Miami. This is not the preseason. This is not the regular season. This is the NBA Finals. And that to me is really, really perplexing and disappointing."
Two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic scored 41 points but Miami did well to limit his playmaking. The 28-year-old Serbian managed just four assists, leading to claims that the Heat changed Jokic into a shooter to limit his playmaking ability for his teammates. However, Miami's head coach Erik Spoelstra has hit back at that belief.
"That's a ridiculous - that's the untrained eye that says something like that," Spoelstra said. "This guy is an incredible player. You know, twice in two seasons he's been the best player on this planet.
"You can't just say, 'Oh, make him a scorer.' That's not how they play. They have so many different actions that just get you compromised.
"We have to focus on what we do. We try to do things the hard way, and he requires you to do many things the hard way. He has our full respect."
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