{"id":734565,"date":"2026-05-15T00:03:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/734565\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T00:03:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:03:33","slug":"nba-stands-by-controversial-non-call-that-helped-cavaliers-take-3-2-series-lead-over-pistons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/734565\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA stands by controversial non-call that helped Cavaliers take 3-2 series lead over Pistons"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> took a 3-2 series lead<\/a> over the Detroit Pistons<\/a> on Wednesday, getting the 117-113 overtime win behind another late surge from Donovan Mitchell<\/a>. But some believe the Cavs\u2019 win may have been helped by a controversial non-call at the end of regulation.<\/p>\n

With seconds left on the clock, Pistons forward Ausar Thompson<\/a> got a block on Mitchell to keep the game tied. But as Thompson went to collect the ball, he fell to the ground after getting his feet tangled with Cleveland\u2019s Jarrett Allen<\/a> as the final seconds ticked off the clock.<\/p>\n

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On Thursday, though, the NBA stood by the non-call. In the Last Two Minute Report<\/a> \u2014 the league\u2019s review of calls made in the final two minutes of close games \u2014 for Wednesday\u2019s matchup, officials confirmed the supposedly missed foul drawn by Thompson was correct.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllen (CLE) and Thompson (DET) legally step to the same spot while pursuing the loose ball [before either player has possession], and both lose their balance from the marginal contact,\u201d the league wrote in the report.<\/p>\n

In all, the NBA concluded that all officiating in the last two minutes of regulation and the last two minutes of OT, including other key fouls and turnovers, were correct calls.<\/p>\n

Given that the Pistons were in the bonus at the time of the foul, Thompson would have had the chance to hit two potentially game-winning free throws. Instead, the game went to overtime, where Mitchell scored seven of his 21 total points.<\/p>\n

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Postgame, Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff called it a \u201cclear\u201d foul on Thompson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear. He trips him when he\u2019s going for a loose ball,\u201d Bickerstaff said simply. \u201cEnd of game situation, that\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the second game in a row Bickerstaff has expressed disagreement with the officiating. On Monday, after another late Detroit collapse and a historic performance from Mitchell<\/a> led to another Cleveland win, Bickerstaff called the Game 4 free-throw disparity \u201cunacceptable.\u201d Mitchell finished with 43 points and hit more free throws (13-of-26) than the entire Pistons team attempted (9-of-12).<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was done out there tonight, it\u2019s frustrating,\u201d Bickerstaff said. \u201cBut we can\u2019t allow that to be the reason why. \u2026 But again, when you look at the foul count, you look at the disparity, that\u2019s hard to overcome. And you wonder the reason why.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teams return to Cleveland for Game 6 on Friday. If the Cavaliers don\u2019t close it out, the series will then go back to Detroit for Game 7 on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Cavaliers took a 3-2 series lead over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday, getting the 117-113 overtime…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3773],"tags":[1026,7,193,296,188,3860,864,1178,6,297],"class_list":{"0":"post-734565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-pistons","8":"tag-ausar-thompson","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","11":"tag-detroit","12":"tag-detroit-pistons","13":"tag-detroitpistons","14":"tag-donovan-mitchell","15":"tag-jarrett-allen","16":"tag-nba","17":"tag-pistons"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116575666399143776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}