Last 2 Minute Report: Steph Curry fouled twice in final seconds

The NBA has released their Last 2 Minute Report for the Golden State Warriors Game 4 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.

As always, the league reviewed the final two minutes of the game (or in this case, the final two minutes of both regulation and overtime) to search for any incorrect calls or non-calls.

They found two: one in regulation, and one in overtime. Both were non-calls on Steph Curry layup attempts. According to the league, each call should have resulted in free throws for Curry.

The first came with 13.6 seconds remaining in regulation, and the game tied 111-111. Curry drove by Meyers Leonard, attempted a left-handed layup, and had the shot blocked from behind by Leonard.

Replays appeared to show that Leonard got a lot of Curry’s arm in the process, and the refs agreed. Here’s the explanation:

LLS shows Leonard (POR) swings down and makes contact across Curry’s (GSW) arm/shoulder, causing him to lose control of the ball after his gather.

Rather than go to the free throw line, Curry ended up chasing after the rebound, and had a rather funny traveling violation in the process. Not surprisingly, the league confirmed that violation as accurate.

A similar thing happened in overtime. With 14.6 seconds remaining, and the Warriors clinging to a 119-117 lead, Curry drove to the lane and attempted a floater. Rodney Hood stepped in front of him, and while there was contact, the refs decided it was a no-call.

It seemed like a fine non-call at the time, but the report noted that Hood never fully cleared the restricted area:

Curry’s (GSW) drive to the basket originates outside the LDB and the secondary defender Hood (POR) does not fully clear the RA as contact is made with Curry following the release of his driving shot attempt.

The non-call didn’t end up hurting the Warriors, as the Blazers were unable to capitalize on the other end.

As always, these L2M reports are interesting, but not incredibly telling. It’s always interesting to see how the league determines calls, and what their viewpoint is, but it’s important to remember that these calls only represent four of the 53 minutes that were played.

So if you feel like the Warriors got hurt by the refs last night . . . chances are they benefited from a few whistles as well.