Portland Was on the Wrong Side of a Pitiful Call
The Portland Trail Blazers are currently in the 9th spot of the Western Conference and are battling for a chance to make the playoffs. It has been a disappointing season for the Blazers, who were just in the Western Conference Finals last season.
On Friday night, the Blazers had a chance to make a statement in Utah and show the conference that they are a team that could cause trouble in the playoffs. Damian Lillard has been on a tear lately, putting his team on his back in order to not miss the playoffs. He finished the game with forty-two points, shooting over fifty percent.
However, the Blazers fell short against the Jazz 117-114. The problem was, the referees, who missed a goaltending call in the final seconds. As Damian Lillard drove the lane for a clear layup, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz, blocked the shot from going in. However, the ball already hit the backboard and was literally was about to go in. It was obvious it was goaltending, but amazingly, the referees missed the call.
Damian Lillard is absolutely furious after the refs didn’t count his tying basket, in what seemed to be a goaltend. pic.twitter.com/jR2M78pNai
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) February 8, 2020
The play was really devastating for the Blazers as they are 2.5 games out of the 8th seed. We do not know if the team would have ultimately won the game but the referees took away a chance to play in overtime.
With the way Lillard has been playing, he would have done anything he could in order to pull of that win. However, the referees took away that opportunity and that is very unacceptable.
CORRECTION, this is a foul AND a goaltend. There is no way the refs can miss that. They’ll get no solace from the L2M report tomorrow pic.twitter.com/ZQnEU6VIAW
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) February 8, 2020
–Zachary Connell (@ZackConnell2)