One of the greatest NBA championship games ever played took place Tuesday night in Miami as the Heat forced a deciding game seven against the Spurs with a 103-100 overtime victory. It was certainly one for the books as the Heat rallied from both a 4th period 10 point deficit and a five point deficit in the final 20 seconds of OT to win it, but two no-calls by the officials in the final 10 seconds cost the Spurs a chance for an NBA title.

Down by a single point with under 10 seconds in OT the Spur’s Manu Ginobili drove to the basket for a potential game winner, only to be mugged in the paint. Ginobili was hacked across the arms by a pair of defenders and the ball was turned over to the Heat.

Then down by 3 with under 2 seconds left on the clock  Danny Green, of San Antonio, took a long pass in the corner and fired up a desperation 3-pointer to tie, but was body slammed into the crowd by Chris Bosh of the Heat. Again, no call on the play although the replay clearly showed serious contact and was pointed out by the announcers.

I don’t have a dog in the fight and rarely watch the NBA during the regulars season, but I was inclined to watch what looked like a San Antonio Spurs Championship victory. Not the first time I’ve seen officials put away the whistle on decisive “no calls” in a title game, but the two examples cited above really stood out.

Several times in the final five minutes LeBron James cried out for calls from the refs when he turned over the ball, but replays instead showed good defensive efforts. Knowing that few officials want to make themselves the focus of such a monumental game I’m not totally surprised by the missed calls, but if I were a San Antonio fan today I would definitely feel the NBA Gods wanted a game seven and a Heat repeat.

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