nba referees assignments

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Referee data is available for the 1988-89 through 2023-24 seasons. Active referees are listed in bold .

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How Are Referee Assignments Made in the NBA?

NBA Referees Joey Crawford and Scott Foster officiating games (Credit: Twitter)

NBA referees have been scrutinized quite heavily for their questionable calls throughout this season. Fans should certainly be aware of this growing phenomenon. Although the players show some tendency to exaggerate during plays, officials such as Scott Foster have been making “bad” game-altering calls multiple times throughout this season.

When compared to the NBA postseason, the consequences of regular season games don’t matter as much. However, that still begs the question regarding the assignment methods for the referees. With that being said, let us find out more about what the criteria are in this scenario.

What are the criteria to become a referee for the NBA playoffs?

For the regular season games, referees are chosen based on factors such as experience, performance, and availability. The matches that are not televised nationally are also opportunities for new or inexperienced referees to get a taste of the action. However, the postseason is taken more seriously.

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In fact, an entire team exists for the sole purpose of choosing the referees who will be officiating playoff games. The NBA Referee Operations management team will assess the individual referees throughout the regular season based on 3 criteria; graded rankings, play-calling accuracy, and team rankings.

That would mean both the referee operations management team and NBA teams would play a significant role in deciding which officials get to make it through to the playoffs. For the 2022-2023 NBA postseason, the league announced that 36 officials would be selected for refereeing this year.

It might interest fans to know that the referees will be evaluated after every round in order to determine who will be officiating the upcoming rounds. This is exciting in a manner of speaking as they will certainly try to do a good job in order to keep advancing on to covering more important games.

Although a few new referees are given chances at times, most of them have at least 5 years’ worth of officiating experience along with a good resume. The majority have around 10 years’ worth of experience and are considered the best referees in the league.

We should remember that they are also human and could potentially make mistakes. While there is no denying that a sense of accountability is important, fans should keep in mind that they worked quite hard in order to be given an opportunity to officiate NBA games.

Adarsh Param

A senior NBA writer at Sportsmanor. Adarsh Param is currently becoming a better athlete and writer at the same time. He has been content writing for more than a year and boasts over 2,000 articles during his tenure. Adarsh is also a graduate in Journalism, Psychology, and English

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Marat Kogut

Marat Kogut (MAH-rot co-GUT) has officiated 762 regular-season games in 14 seasons as an NBA staff official.

Kogut considers his most memorable NBA assignment to be a game between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 30, 2011, the first meeting between the teams after their matchup in the 2010 NBA Finals.  

His officiating experience includes three years in the WNBA and four years in the NBA G League. Kogut refereed in several NCAA Division I conferences, including the Ohio Valley, Atlantic Sun and Big South. He also officiated New York metro area high school games for four years.  

Kogut immigrated to the United States with his family seven days after he was born in Ukraine. Raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., he started officiating at age 16 at local recreational youth leagues.

Kogut is a former head men’s basketball manager for St. John’s University. In addition to being an amateur magician, Kogut enjoys playing the piano, volleyball and golf.  

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Referee assignments inspire conspiracy theories about NBA play-in game

The referee assignments for Tuesday's Lakers-Pelicans game contain the two most controversial words in NBA officiating: Scott Foster.

Adam Silver sent The Closer to New Orleans for the Pelicans vs Lakers game tonight. Scott Foster is in the building. pic.twitter.com/jDYpmpRX6K — Chris (@HoopSpaces) April 16, 2024

There are two things that nearly every NBA fan believes about veteran official Scott Foster. One, he's biased against their favorite team, no matter what that team is. Two, he's the official that the NBA schedules when they want a certain outcome.

It's rare that there's a professional sports official with a well-publicized, decade-plus rivalry with a star player, but that appears to be the case with Foster and the Warriors' Chris Paul. 

According to commissioner Adam Silver, Foster is "one of the best, most highly rated referees in this league." Yet Foster was also named "worst ref" in a poll of NBA players last April.

Part of the reason fans are suspicious of Foster is that his high ratings with the league mean he works a lot of playoff games. And when both teams and their fanbases think Foster is biased against them, any outcome will continue the narrative that he's rigging games.

The other part of the suspicion comes from Foster's well-publicized friendship with disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy. Foster received 134 phone calls from Donaghy during the period Donaghy admitted to gambling on NBA games, though Foster contends they could have been talking about "45 things. It could have been a family thing or who was hotter, Betty or Wilma."

Besides his questionable attraction to cartoon cavewomen, there's no real evidence that Foster favors any players or team, except what seems to be a clear dislike of Paul. Fans might think Foster's presence favors LeBron James and the popular Lakers, but a better indication that the Lakers might win would be their blowout win in New Orleans on Sunday.

After all, the NBA arguably might want the Lakers to stay in the play-in tournament, for a possible ratings bonanza of a matchup with Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Friday. Which means conspiracy theorists can still believe Foster's presence means the game is rigged, regardless of Tuesday's result.

More must-reads:

• Pelicans facing daunting play-in rematch with Lakers following dismal regular-season finale
• Magic Johnson responds to ‘ridiculous’ suggestion about Lakers
• The 'Most points in NBA postseason history' quiz

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Finally...NBA Ref Scouting Reports | Twelve seasons of data and counting

Since the 2011-12 NBA season, we have visually reviewed every violation called in every NBA game (over 14,000 games' worth) to create the ultimate dataset to identify each NBA referee’s tendencies! Scroll down to see how referee analytics can help you. Click below to see a sample report using real data (referees' names have been anonymized).

Who benefits

Sports bettors & fantasy gamers

More defensive fouls typically mean more free throw attempts, which are much higher percentage shots than field goal attempts. This kind of information on defensive violations, as well as many others, can give you more confidence in picking totals, spreads and player performances.

Fans & Broadcasters/Media

Fans frustrated with NBA officiating can now understand better if certain referees have a penchant to call more (or less) violations than other refs.

Broadcasters & media can inform their audiences how each game might be called, provide more context why a referee made a controversial call/no-call, etc.

Players & coaches

Opposing players are scouted heavily using statistics, but three of the 13 people on the court haven’t been…until now, thanks to our daily scouting reports ranking how each official calls every violation.  For teams wanting more in-depth data (like refs’ statistics calling violations on players), please contact us about our Enterprise solutions.

Why visual review is essential

There is no substitute for visually reviewing every violation like we do for the following reasons:

Violations called by multiple refs

15-20% of violations are called by two or more refs, which is only detectable through visual review. This makes a big difference in getting serious accuracy.

Illegal screens & travels

We break out which refs call illegal screens, a very important violation not provided in official scoring, as well as traveling violations (not provided either).

Official play-by-play records aren’t always correct.  Visual review of every violation ensures better accuracy.

Quotes from insiders about NBA officiating

Mark cuban (interview with michael lewis at the 2011 sloan conference).

Lewis: “What are the biggest inefficiencies in basketball, this unchartered territory, if you could know one thing that you don’t know now, what would it be?”

Cuban: “ Referees. Seriously. Think about it…Let’s just use the Vegas line, and pick a game that has 3 points or less.  [That’s] two missed calls.  Done…There is a scenario in the NBA where you have offensive 3 seconds.  There’s an official [in one of our games] who refused to call it.  And we knew it.  So what did we do?” [Laughter from crowd]

Amin Elhassan – former Asst. Director of Basketball Operations (Phoenix Suns)

“If you know there’s a ref who’s not good at calling a certain call, or is overly sensitive making a call, would you exploit that? Of course you would exploit that…. Absolutely, you can gear your playbook toward who the refs are. And even within a game and in-game adjustments and end of quarter, end of game things . They say, look, this guy is going to swallow his whistle, so you can get ‘handsy’ on the perimeter, whereas if it’s someone else, you want to pull back a little.”

Mike Dunleavy (former NBA coach) – June 10th, 2014

Question: “Did it make a difference to you who was officiating a game?”

Dunleavy: “Yeah, it really did, as far as what kind of game you thought would be called, for sure…”

Jeff Van Gundy – April 2014

“I think they (TV analysts) have been programmed to say that no one is supposed to talk about it. That you’re supposed to say the officiating doesn’t matter when we all know it absolutely does ….I understand their (referees’) job is hard. I understand officiating is hard, but guess what? So is guarding LaMarcus Aldridge. So is coaching…”

News & Press

Analytics & reasons why Monty McCutchen is no longer officiating games and why his promotion is a concern

In an unprecedented move, the NBA announced that 25-year veteran official Monty McCutchen will be moving immediately to a supervisory role in the league office to mentor and coach NBA …

ESPN The Magazine

In the June 9th, 2014 issue of ESPN the Magazine, writer Peter Keating featured our work in his weekly “Numbers” column.

Details on a large increase in 3-point shooting fouls during the playoffs (not necessarily a bad thing) (May 2014)

Here’s a post from May 2014 to show the kind of analysis we’ve done in the past: Long before Chris Paul fouled Russell Westbrook on that 3-point shot with 6 …

A couple of weeks after the 2014 Sloan Conference, USA Today’s Sam Amick wrote an article about new NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s stance on being more transparent about NBA officiating.  Amick also interviewed us for our opinion about this ‘transparency.’

Sloan Conference and ESPN

The 2014 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference selected our research paper as one of the top 16 papers from over 300 submissions. Consequently, ESPN.com ran a feature article on our groundbreaking NBA referee analytics.

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Joel Embiid, NBA world react to refereeing in Knicks-Pacers Game 1

New york came back to win game 1 at home 121-117, but not without some controversy., by sanjesh singh • published may 6, 2024.

The New York Knicks took a 1-0 second-round series lead over the Indiana Pacers on Monday, but not without some controversy.

New York, the No. 2 seed, had been trailing at home for most of the game with No. 7 Indiana playing composed.

However, the fourth quarter involved some questionable calls against Indiana, ranging from moving screens to kick balls.

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The Knicks ended up snatching a vital home 121-117 home win to avoid trailing the series early, with Jalen Brunson once again starring with 43 points to lead all scorers.

But the primary discourse resulting from what otherwise was a thrilling series opener centers around the officiating. Here are some of the top reactions, from Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid to NFL players and more:

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Ranking the 4 second-round matchups in the 2024 NBA playoffs

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LOL — Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) May 7, 2024

Naaaaa Refs effecting games smh that's nasty work — Zaire Franklin (@ZiggySmalls_) May 7, 2024

Nembhard is rightfully upset. What an abysmal ending dictated by the refs. — James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) May 7, 2024

Pacers got robbed of a transition opportunity on the Haliburton steal, robbed of another steal because of the kicked ball call, and then the incredibly soft moving screen. I’m really really not a blame the refs guy, but that was brutal. — Rohan Nadkarni (@RohanNadkarni) May 7, 2024

Pacers fans looking at the offensive foul call pic.twitter.com/WkP2t3bckz — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 7, 2024

Rick Carlisle: “I don’t want to talk about the officiating. We’re not expecting to get calls in here.” — Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) May 7, 2024

The amount of Knicks fans even being like, “That officiating was bad and gross,” is telling. League did not come out looking pretty tonight. — Josh Eberley 🇨🇦 (@JoshEberley) May 7, 2024

"In my experience in this league, I think it's best when players decide the outcome of the game," Myles Turner says. He added that the Pacers can't leave the game to be decided by the refs, though he added he's looking forwad to the Last 2 Minutes report coming out. — Tony East (@TonyREast) May 7, 2024

The contrast in reffing between Pacers-Knicks and Wolves-Nuggets is wild, it’s like watching two different leagues — Cameron Tabatabaie (@CTabatabaie) May 7, 2024

Game 2 in New York is set for Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.

This article tagged under:

Should the NHL follow NBA and NFL’s lead and allow referees to explain calls to media?

The sports world has been buzzing about controversial calls from officials this week. And in the NBA and NFL , the referees at the center of firestorms were made available to the media to explain their line of thinking.

In the NBA , a pool reporter was able to ask referee and crew chief Tony Brothers about LeBron James’ disputed three-point play on a potential game-tying shot .

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Meanwhile, NFL referee Brad Allen answered three questions from a pool reporter after the Detroit Lions had a two-point conversion negated because of an illegal touching penalty against the Dallas Cowboys.

Hockey fans are likely sitting back and watching this type of transparency and accountability from game officials with some degree of envy. After all, NHL protocols do not allow for referees to be made available to the media following games. As it currently stands, reporters can send an email request to the league office for a comment on a disputed or controversial call.

The referees on the ice, however, are strictly off-limits.

So after watching the other leagues put their referees in the direct line of questioning, it’s worth pondering if it’s time for the NHL to do the same.

The initial response might be a resounding yes.

During the NHL/NHLPA player tour last September in Las Vegas, Edmonton Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl was on board with the idea of making referees available to the media following controversial rulings on the ice.

“It’d be a great idea,” Draisaitl said. “There’s no ref out there that’s trying to purposely make the wrong decisions.”

Putting a referee on the hot seat and making them accountable seems like a terrific idea on the surface. If coaches and players need to be accountable to the media for their mistakes during the course of a game, logic dictates that same responsibility should be extended to the on-ice officials.

Every fan base can think of at least one instance in which a referee’s botched call has directly affected the outcome of a game for their favorite team. So the notion of that referee being held accountable through a direct line of questioning seems a delicious idea.

But before moving to this type of system in the NHL, we need to examine the fallout from the other leagues this week.

In the NFL, Lions fans have only become further enraged by Allen’s explanation of events. In Detroit this week, they put billboards off the freeway that read “Decker Reported” — a clear shot at Allen’s decision to call Lions offensive tackle Taylor Decker for an illegal-touching penalty.

In the NBA, James went off on the league’s video review system, saying, “Somebody over there eating a ham sandwich or (something) made the call.”

According to the pool report , referee and crew chief Brothers said James’ shot was “ruled a two-point field goal on the floor during live play. After video review, there wasn’t clear and conclusive evidence to overturn it from a two to a three, and that’s why it stood as a two-point field goal.”

But that did nothing to stop James from being critical as he added, “There’s a space in between the front of my foot and the 3-point line. Stevie Wonder can see that, champ.”

These explanations from the referees — while transparent and forthcoming — did nothing to lower the temperature around the related controversies. In fact, an argument can be made that Allen’s comments only served to pour gasoline on an already raging fire.

So we should probably tread cautiously on this front in the NHL.

Retired referee Dave Jackson, who officiated more than 1,500 regular-season games during a career that spanned from 1990-2018, says he could be on board with this idea — with a significant caveat.

“I don’t have a problem with a pool reporter who goes into the officials’ locker room,” Jackson told The Athletic . “But it should only be used when it’s a rule explanation.”

Jackson pointed to a specific example from this week as to when he could see some value in an explanation from a referee to a pool reporter.

During the Vancouver-Ottawa game on Tuesday, Senators defenseman Jacob-Bernard Docker appeared to close his hand on the puck while breaking up a potential “Michigan-style” play from Canucks forward Nils Hoglander .

Nils Hoglander tries to find Pius Suter with the Michigan pass behind the net👀 🎥: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/ZIMEX4kY4i — CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) January 3, 2024

Many fans were adamant that Bernard-Docker’s actions should have led to an automatic penalty shot for Vancouver, considering he closed his hand on the puck while standing in the crease. But Jackson says this is one instance in which he would have been happy to explain to a pool reporter why this wasn’t a penalty.

“The crease only extends up to the crossbar. So (Bernard-Docker) grabbed that puck above the crossbar, which means the puck is technically not in the crease,” Jackson said. “And he dropped it right away, so it’s not a penalty. That’s one that would be easy to explain to a pool reporter, because I’m explaining a rule interpretation.”

What Jackson doesn’t want to see is a situation in which every single missed call from a referee becomes the subject of a postgame line of questioning.

“Let’s say a player gets a high-sticked in the face and the ref doesn’t call it,” Jackson said. “The pool reporter goes into the room and says, ‘Why didn’t you make that call?’  The referee would simply say, ‘I missed it.’  Nobody is going to be satisfied by that. I don’t know what answer a referee can give you on a judgement call that is satisfactory. I don’t see the upside on that.”

In the early portion of his career — at some point in the late 1990s or early 2000s — Jackson does recall being interviewed by a pool reporter following a controversial call in Chicago. He and his fellow linesman were adamant that the puck crossed the goal line on a particular play, but their decision was overturned upon video review in Toronto. Jackson remembers hearing a knock on the officials’ door after the game. It was a pool reporter from Chicago requesting a comment.

“I called Toronto and they said, ‘By all means. Go ahead and talk,'” Jackson said. “And I enjoyed it. It took the heat off me. From where I was standing, I thought the puck crossed the line. But the situation room had a better look.”

The league has stopped that practice altogether, opting for statements from the league’s hockey operations department in lieu of direct comments from an on-ice official. Depending on the situation, the off-ice supervisor may also be available for a comment if he is present at the game.

Jackson pushes back against the notion that NHL referees are not being held to a high degree of accountability because they can skip direct questioning from the media, unlike their counterparts in the NFL and NBA.

“People seem to think NHL referees aren’t accountable, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” Jackson said.

He says each game is watched in the NHL situation room in Toronto by a person who logs every significant moment related to that contest. Anything egregious — such as a missed call or an incorrect call — is logged and sent to the league’s director of officiating, Stephen Walkom. Referees are strongly encouraged to watch those logged clips of their previous game before they take the ice again. And if there is anything blatant that is missed, they will hear directly from Walkom.

Jackson adds that approximately 40 percent of the games will have an on-site supervisor, who will go down to the locker room afterward and discuss how things unfolded with the on-ice officials. The supervisors are retired referees such as Bill McCreary and Don Van Massenhoven, who evaluate from the press box and then come down and offer direct feedback.

On a weekly basis, referees are sent examples of good and ball calls from their colleagues around the league. They are told what tendencies are creeping into the game and how they should appropriately call those infractions. And then, at the halfway point of the season, each official receives a detailed report about what they’re doing right and what they’re missing. Officials are rated on everything from their conditioning to their positioning on the ice to the amount of calls they’ve made.

“At that point, you know if you’re on track or not,” Jackson said.

Jackson says the internal mechanisms are in place to hold referees accountable, without the need for media to be peppering them with questions or fining them for each missed call.

“People talk about officials being fined for a bad call,” Jackson said. “Well, you can’t fine an official for a bad call any more than you can fine a goalie for allowing a soft goal. It’s not intentional. It’s a mistake. But it does hit them in the pocketbook eventually. And if your work is not up to par, then you won’t work the playoffs. And that costs you money. So they’re absolutely accountable.”

Jackson, who now serves as a rules analyst for ESPN, says most hockey fans don’t realize how emotionally distraught referees are after they make a mistake on the ice. Just because they’re avoiding media responsibilities doesn’t mean they aren’t carrying some of the weight and burden of controversial calls afterward.

“I can’t tell you how many sleepless nights I had, staring at a hotel ceiling. Just fretting over the call I missed or made,” Jackson said. “It really affects an official. We don’t just laugh it off and move on.”

(Photo of Florida Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk and referee Jake Brenk: Norm Hall / NHLI via Getty Images)

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Ian Mendes is a senior writer covering the NHL. Prior to joining The Athletic in 2021, he spent seven years as an afternoon talk show host for TSN 1200 in Ottawa and as a contributing writer for TSN.ca. He also worked as a television reporter and host with Rogers Sportsnet for 12 years and has served as a feature columnist for both The Ottawa Citizen and Today’s Parent magazine. Follow Ian on Twitter @ ian_mendes

Indiana Pacers File Complaint Over 78 Referee Decisions In First Two Games Against Knicks

T he Indiana Pacers filed a complaint with the NBA Wednesday night concerning 78 calls and non-calls in the first two games of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The team claims that the referees have made a preponderance of errors that have helped the second-seeded Knicks take a 2-0 series lead.

Pacers coach  Rick Carlisle  told reporters after Game 2, a  130-121 Knicks win  that he had been holding out hope for improved officiating since the team’s Game 1 loss Sunday. He was disappointed and claimed that his team never had a serious chance.

“I can promise you that we’re going to submit these [complaints] tonight,” Carlisle said after Game 2. “New York can get ready. They’ll see ’em too. I’m always talking to our guys about not making it about the officials, but we deserve a fair shot.”

In recent years, the NBA has faced increasing scrutiny concerning referees’ decisions as the league updates its instant replay rules. In a fast-paced game like basketball, fans at home have a very different viewing experience than referees on the floor. Referees are also central to many fans’ conspiracy theories about game fixing, fueled by  the 2007  Tim Donaghy  scandal  and other minor incidents.

The Pacers are merely questioning the referees’ competence in their complaint to the NBA, arguing that the calls have been skewed heavily in favor of their opponent. Several outside spectators partially agree with Indiana’s assessment, especially concerning a blatant error at the end of Game 1 in which a potential Pacers steal was instead called a kicked-ball violation.

But while some in the Pacers organization are focused on ensuring fairness from referees, others, like Indiana star  Tyrese Haliburton , claim that the team could have avoided both losses by playing better. After scoring just six points in Game 1, the All-Star bounced back in Game 2 and scored 34.

“Let’s not pretend like [officiating] is the only reason we lost. We just didn’t play good enough,” Haliburton said. “We just got to be better.”

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Nba analysts rip referees for controversial call in knicks’ win over pacers: ‘reprehensible’.

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Another controversial late-game call left the NBA world stunned and calling out yet another ref show.

Plenty of analysts could not believe the referees called a moving screen violation against the Pacers that ultimately defined the Knicks’ 121-117 win in Game 1 against Indiana on Monday at The Garden.

That’s without even mentioning the admitted missed call by the referees on a kicked ball that led to a potential five- or six-point swing in a tie game in the final minute.

“The charge call on (Myles) Turner was reprehensible,” noted Celtics fan and The Ringer’s Bill Simmons posted on X . “Come on.”

For the second time in four home games this postseason, a Knicks win has been overshadowed by shoddy refereeing that helped the Knicks emerge with the victory.

The referees admitted to missing a call in the Knicks’ win over the 76ers’ in Game 2 that gave them a 2-0 series lead, and Monday’s refereeing helped the Knicks grab a 1-0 lead.

The Knicks were on the other end of officials’ incompetence when they admitted to missing a travel on 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey that aided his late-game heroics in Game 5.

While the NBA has already owned up to wrongly calling a kicked ball that prevented a Pacers fast break in a 115-all game, there has been more scrutiny on the moving violation in the final 15 seconds.

With the Knicks leading 118-117, Turner came to set a screen on Donte DiVincenzo and the referees ruled Turner had committed an infraction on the play.

DiVincenzo appeared to embellish the contact, which may have influenced the call.

Stan Van Gundy on the TNT broadcast could not believe the call.

“That is shocking. You never see that call at this point in the game. I mean, never,” Van Gundy said. “That is a great acting job. Lotta great actors here in New York City; you see ’em on Broadway all the time. That’s as good an acting job as you’ll see. He technically was moving a little bit. Wow, did Donte DiVincenzo act on that one.”

"That is shocking. You never see that call at this point in the game. I mean, NEVER… That is a great acting job. Lot of great actors here in New York City; you see 'em on Broadway all the time. That's as good an acting job as you'll see." – Stan Van Gundy 🏀🎙️ pic.twitter.com/AmhDxlLeH3 — Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 7, 2024

Indiana challenged the call but it was not overturned, and the Knicks scored the final three points to ice the game.

The NBA’s Last Two Minute Report will provide more details on the call, but experts seemed to have two main issues with the call.

The first is simply that, well, you don’t call that foul in that spot.

It seemed most agreed that even if Turner was slightly moving in that spot, like offensive holding in the NFL, you could call that foul on each play in the game.

A similar call ruined Iowa’s Final Four win over UConn and earned condemnation.

“You don’t make that call at this stage of the game. HORRIBLE!” ESPN’s Jay Williams tweeted .

Yahoo’s Tom Haberstroh mentioned how the referees overruled an earlier call on Jalen Brunson with plenty of contact but then ruled Turner crossed a line.

“How was that Brunson block not a foul on review but that moving screen is a foul,” Haberstroh posted . “Don’t answer that.”

Some also seemed to think that DiVincenzo flopped.

“That is a horrific call,” Doug Gottlieb posted . “I love everything about Nova guys, except how much they flop.”

The general consensus among analysts seemed to be that the referees just needed to swallow their whistle in that spot and let the teams decide the outcome.

“Knicks probably win that game w/o the bad calls. But you can’t call that illegal screen and not expect it to be the story of the game,” Andrew Perloff tweeted . “Officials screwed everyone.”

Added Knicks fan Rob Perez , known as WorldWideWob on X: “I don’t feel like we got away with one, and you can’t convince me otherwise. I hate that the conversation from this awesome game will revolve around the officiating in the final minute. The simple answer and solution to that Myles Turner screen is never calling it.”

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'Would be legal': Referee acknowledges incorrect kicked ball call vs. Pacers

A game official acknowledged an incorrect call in the final minute of the Indiana Pacers' 121-117 loss in Game 1 of their NBA playoff series against the New York Knicks.

Zach Zarba, responding to a pool reporter, said the refs should not have called a kicked ball against Indiana's Aaron Nesmith with 52 seconds left. Replays showed Nesmith hitting the ball with his hand, which is, of course, legal. Without the call, Andrew Nembhard would have stolen the ball.

New York's Donte DiVincenzo hit a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, giving New York the lead for good with 40 seconds to go at 118-115.

'You never see that call': Pacers lose to Knicks after two questionable calls by refs

Here's the exchange:

QUESTION: Upon review, was the kicked ball call against Aaron Nesmith deemed to be correct?

ZARBA: On the floor we felt that would be a kicked ball violation. Post game review did show that it hit the defender’s hand, which would be legal.

QUESTION:  Could the Pacers have been allowed to challenge the kick ball call?

ZARBA:  A kicked ball violation is not reviewable and not subject to the coach’s challenge. The three things that teams can challenge are fouls, goaltends and out of bounds.