Eric Bledsoe and the Bucks were not impressed by blown call late in Game 5: ‘Point blank’
In the closing minutes of Tuesday’s Game 5 between the Celtics and Bucks, Boston appeared to commit a 24-second violation. If the whistle blew, Milwaukee would have gotten the ball back down five points with 1 minute, 16 seconds to play. The whistle did not blow.
Replays clearly showed that the ball was still in Al Horford’s hands when the shot clock expired, but the referees couldn’t review the play.
“The rule states that under two minutes we are not allowed to review a potential 24-second violation unless the ball goes in the basket,” referee Ken Mauer said after the game, per a pool report.
On NBA TV Wednesday morning, senior vice president of replay and referee operations Joe Borgia said the play was a shot clock violation. But he added that the play is much more complex in person, with so many moving parts, than it is for viewers at home.
“It’s an extremely complex play for the referees, especially in a very loud arena during the playoffs at the end of a close game,” Borgia said. “It was an unfortunate miss but—knock wood—they did not score on the next possession.”
Although they didn’t score, the Celtics did pull in an offensive rebound on Horford’s shot and wound the clock down by an additional 20 seconds on their way to a 92-87 win. The Bucks were less than impressed by the officiating. Head coach Joe Prunty was asked if he got an explanation for the non-call.
“Not a good enough one,” he responded.
Eric Bledsoe was equally succinct.
“I think it was bull****,” Bledsoe said. “Point blank.”
The refs weren’t the only ones to draw the point guard’s ire during Game 5. His ongoing battle with Boston’s Terry Rozier continued after Rozier gave him a bump under the basket in the third quarter. Bledsoe responded with a hard shove to Rozier’s chest and the pair had to be separated.
For those wondering, Eric Bledsoe and Terry Rozier still don’t like each other very much. pic.twitter.com/CzLgipWSKs
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 25, 2018
Bledsoe earned a flagrant foul for his role in the scuffle, while Rozier was assessed a technical. After the game, Bledsoe said that he was moving on and looking forward to Game 6. Rozier wasn’t dwelling on the incident, either.
“It’s all good,” Rozier said, smiling. “Just out there having fun, that’s all.”
