Last two minutes giving NBA officials plenty to ponder

Dwyane Wade does not read the NBA's reviews of officiating in the last two minutes of close games - which might be a wise move in this particular case.

He wouldn't have liked what the league said on Thursday.

And it seems referees could do without the NBA's after-the-fact public critiques as well.

Since March 2015, the NBA's Last Two Minute Report has provided a public report card of sorts on everything that happens in the final two minutes of games that were within five points or less.

The NBA said it releases the reports in an effort to be transparent and because it would get inquiries from teams and media about certain calls in close games anyway.

But outcomes never change whether calls are right or wrong, so it begs the question - why release the reports at all?

"It's important that we're completely transparent and that we get the information out there and people understand that we're upfront about it and we admit mistakes," said Kiki VanDeWeghe, the NBA's executive vice-president of basketball operations.

"But also, it's important not only for the referees but for the teams and everybody else that we talk about the ones we got right."

The league reviewed 26 events down the stretch of the Miami-Charlotte game on Wednesday, in which the Hornets prevailed 90-88 for a 3-2 series lead.

Of those, the three most debated by the teams afterward: Charlotte's Courtney Lee argued he had a shot goaltended by Wade with a minute left; Wade thought Lee or Cody Zeller - or both - fouled him on his chance to tie the game in the final seconds; the Heat said they fouled Zeller a couple seconds later on an inbounds pass in an effort to send him to the line and extend the game.

In all three instances, the NBA said it got the calls, or non-calls, right. (The review found Miami's Luol Deng fouled Zeller before the ball was inbounded, but Charlotte would have retained possession in that situation anyway.)

The NBA did say Lee made "minor contact" with Wade's arm on the Heat guard's shot attempt, but not enough to merit a foul.

"To be honest, I don't even look at them," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the reports Thursday, a few hours before the league's review of Wednesday's game was released.

"That doesn't help if they disagree and say it should have been a foul.

"What's that do? You just become frustrated. Or if they disagree with you, you can go down that rabbit hole of 'How do you not see it that way?'"

A review of the reports by Associated Press showed the league has probed 174 events in the final two regulation minutes over 11 close games so far in these playoffs.

Of those, 150 plays (86 percent) were found to have been handled correctly while 24 plays (14 percent) were arguable.

(China Daily 04/30/2016 page12)