It didn’t look nondescript but it certainly looked weird and the NBA confirmed it.
Kris Dunn’s potential-tying jumper with 11.5 seconds left in overtime came up short due to a foul from Portland’s Shabazz Napier in the Bulls’ 124-120 loss at the United Center Monday.
Dunn wouldn’t add fuel to the discussion afterward, saying “I don’t really remember, I don’t get into that,” when being asked about it. Dunn was hit on the arm from Napier on the short jumper with the Bulls trailing by two, and the officials also admitted to missing a foul on Al-Farouq Aminu for making contact with Lauri Markkanen’s follow-through in regulation, as the Bulls led by two with 1:04 left.
It could’ve put some distance between the Bulls and Trailblazers in the final minute as both sides seemed to trade baskets until the Trailblazers tied the game with a C.J. McCollum basket.
The NBA issues the two-minute reports as a show of transparency for close games that often have controversial calls, and this one would’ve benefitted the Bulls Monday, perhaps setting the stage to send the contest into double overtime.
It just adds another layer of discussion as the Bulls absorbed their second straight loss as Fred Hoiberg sat Nikola Mirotic and Bobby Portis for the last seven and a half minutes of regulation and the entire overtime period.
Robin Lopez and Markkanen played the big minutes and Hoiberg has talked about the decisions he makes nightly as all four have played well recently.
NBA
“I just thought with (Jusef) Nurkic out there, we needed to find a way to keep him off the glass,” Hoiberg said. “He’s is just too big and too strong. I felt like we needed Robin, who was also playing well tonight.”
The second guesses will continue and naturally, the NBA has fueled some of that fire with these reports nobody ever seems happy to see.