The Cleveland Cavaliers got a much-needed 104-100 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 Sunday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, to even up the first-round series 2-2.
While trailing 103-100 with nine seconds remaining, it appeared the Pacers had forced a jumpball after Indiana’s Lance Stephenson wrestled for the ball with Cleveland’s Jeff Green. TNT’s Marv Albert and Chris Webber straight-up said it was a jumpball.
Webber continued analyzing the “jumpball” for five minutes while refs were reviewing the play, and then all of a sudden… Jeff Green was shooting free throws (and would go 1-for-2)?
Well, Green was shooting free throws because it turns out that a personal foul was immediately ruled on Stephenson. There was no jumpball. The only reason the refs were reviewing the play was to see if there were any hostile acts that should result in a technical foul in addition to the personal foul.
Webber just spent 5 minutes analyzing that tie up between Green and Stephenson incorrectly.
— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) April 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/JacobLRosen/status/988255396279324674
So of course viewers of the game were every bit as confused — and Pacers fans were very angry — after being told for five minutes that a crucial moment of the game had resulted in a jumpball, rather than a foul.
Chris Webber just confused all of America. At no point did any official signal a held ball. Shocking that Webber would be clueless in the closing seconds.
— Danny O'Neil, Noted Fisch fan (@dannyoneil) April 23, 2018
After the game, Joe Borgia — NBA’s Senior VP of Replay and Referee Operations — hopped on Inside the NBA to explain what happened:
Joe Borgia joins #InsideTheNBA to clarify the calls made on the scuffle between Lance Stephenson & Jeff Green late in the game. pic.twitter.com/adBMBIYl56
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 23, 2018
For those of you who turned off the TV after the game ended, NBA Senior VP Joe Borgia was just on TNT explaining the final sequence of CLE-IND. He said Lance Stephenson headlock on Green is what earned the foul, before Lance touched the ball & created the jump-ball situation.
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) April 23, 2018
Also – when one referee on the floor calls a foul and the other calls a jump ball (which is what happened here), Borgia says the NBA rulebook states the foul call takes precedence.
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) April 23, 2018
And the Inside the NBA guys then talked/argued about the play:
There is sure to be much more drama in this series, and Game 5 tips off Wednesday night in Cleveland.
[TNT]
