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What's the story?
Both Kevin Durant and LeBron James avoided foul calls being called on them, the NBA announced via it's "Last Two Minute Report."
In case you didn't know
The Christmas Day rematch of the 2017 Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers had come down to the wire. Although the reigning champs came away with the win, there was a lot of controversies surrounding some of the foul calls, or lack thereof, in the final few minutes of play.
Heart of the matter
The league, who obviously have the final say while settling such matters, made their stance on the topic quite clear, given what they released in their official L2M report.
In postgame interviews, James reiterated what he said on the court "He fouled me twice" to which Durant responded by saying "he felt it was clean."
In addition, the reigning Finals MVP was caught on camera during ABC's broadcast of the game " He's too big. He's too big. He's too big for that. He's too big. That ain't no foul."However, aside from the three incorrect non-calls on Durant, while fouling LeBron, the league also indicated that there was a non-call early on James as well.
The report states that with 33 seconds to go in the game, there was an incorrect non-call on James as he was fouling Draymond Green. "James (CLE) clamps the arm and jersey of Green (GSW) and affects his ability to retrieve the rebound." reads the report indicating that there should have been a loose ball foul on James.
So although James was right, there was a non-call on him as well. Having said that, it's important there were three incorrect non-calls on Durant as compared to just on James.
What's next?
While both parties made some initial comments just after the game, given the pedigree of both teams, they would have probably forgotten about it while concentrating on the next game. The Warriors (27-7) continue their homestand and welcome Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night, while the Cavaliers (24-10) play the second game of their three-game road trip in Sacramento also on Wednesday night.
Author's take
It's hard to deny that the report does bring some level of closure to this debate but it's quite pointless. Both teams don't face again until the 15th of January. More importantly, with their three straight Finals appearances, both teams are taking the regular season lightly and more focused on being healthy come Playoff time.
Guess the Lakers players!
