The NBA cited a pair of officiating errors that went against the Miami Heat in the league’s Last Two Minute officiating report for Sunday night’s 117-115 road loss to the Indiana Pacers.
The Heat fell into an early 22-point deficit, but had rallied within striking distance in the final minutes of the defeat, which dropped the Heat to the No. 8 seed in the East with four games left in the regular season.
— The report said Heat guard Tyler Herro should have gone to line for three free throws with Heat down five with 55.1 seconds to play, with, instead, no call made on Herro’s errant 3-point attempt.
According to the NBA report, “(T.J.) McConnell (IND) makes contact with the part of Herro’s (MIA) hand that is not on the ball during his release and affects his jump shot attempt.”
— When the Heat trapped Pacers center Myles Turner and forced a turnover with 17.1 seconds left and down two, the officiating report said a foul should not have been called on the Heat, with Heat forward Haywood Highsmith coming up with the ball. Turner instead converted a pair of free throws for a four-point Indiana lead.
According to the NBA report, “(Bam) Adebayo (MIA) makes clean contact with the ball, simultaneous to Herro (MIA) making incidental hand-on-ball contact to dislodge it from Turner (IND).”
The NBA, however, confirmed the call of a lane violation on Herro on intentional free-throw miss with 3.5 seconds left and Heat down two.
According to the report, “Herro (MIA) extends beyond the plane of the free throw line before his free throw shot attempt touches the basket.”
The NBA only offers reports for the final two minutes of games that stand without three points at any point of the final two minutes. The report on Heat-Pacers cited 18 correct calls and the two calls deemed incorrect, a ratio that is not atypical.
