ABA League issues statement on crucial referees' decision in Game 2 / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Dragana Stjepanovic/ABA League Credit Dragana Stjepanovic/ABA League

ABA League issued a statement regarding a play made in the final seconds in Game 2 of the finals betweenCrvena Zvezdaand Partizan NIS Belgradeat the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall.

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With 10 seconds left, Partizan's Mathias Lessort deliberately missed the second of a pair of free throws. The Frenchman grabbed his own rebound tying the game at 83 points. However, the referees canceled the basket, judging that the player had left his position before the ball even touched the rim.

Luka Mitrovic then hit the final lay-up of the game to grant Crvena Zvezda an 85-81 victory and make it 2-0 in the series.

This particular play caused a reaction by Partizan, which requested a game review and released a statement regarding the officiating.

"A special curiosity is the fact that the ratio of mistakes in the last quarter was four to the detriment of Partizan and zero to the detriment of the Red Star. Of the four mistakes, three occurred in the last minute of the game. Those decisions were the fouls called on Wolters and Mitrovic, with 57 and 56 seconds before the end, respectively, as well as the Lessorts' canceled basket after a free throw 10 seconds before the end," Partizan argued.

"BC Partizan NIS expresses hope that after this expertise, refereeing errors will no longer directly impact the final outcome of the matches in the final series," the statement reads.

After reviewing the game, ABA League released a statement stating that the cancellation of the basket was an incorrect decision.

"The AdmiralBet ABA League wishes to inform the public that the decision with 10 seconds left in the game, at the execution of second free throw by the player Mathias Lessort made by the referees, has not been correct.

There has been no violation during the execution of the free throw. The ball touched the rim before the shooter has touched the free throw line or the restricted area. Therefore, the referee's decision was incorrect."

In the same announcement, the ABA League informs:

"The Referees Commission of ABA League, composed of three members, conducted that the game has been characterized as tough for officiation with plenty of difficult situations for judgment, especially when speaking of the contacts between players.

During the game, the referees have made incorrect decisions, which is also mentioned in the analysis, adding that this is a thing that happens in all games but should not be happening as frequently."

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