Celtics: NBA confirms crucial officiating mistake in Hornets loss

The NBA confirmed that the clock operator made a severe blunder during the Boston Celtics’ recent loss to the Hornets.

With an overwhelming 121-118 overtime road loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics fell to 11-3 on the early 2023–24 NBA season.

Despite his mostly virtuoso performance that saw Tatum score 45 points, the Celtics were denied a chance to tie the game late in the overtime period when he missed a free throw.

With just a few seconds left, the Hornets advanced the lead to three points after grabbing the rebound and being fouled twice.

There was only one issue, though: there ought to have been a lot more time remaining on the clock.

According to Taylor Snow, the NBA confirmed on Tuesday in its Last Two Minutes report that Jrue Holiday should have been called for a foul with 5.2 seconds left after Tatum missed the free throw.

There were actually 3.2 seconds remaining when the call was placed, and even after that, 1.5 more seconds passed before the clock was finally stopped, leaving 1.7 seconds remaining.

In other words, there should have been 3.2 more seconds for the Celtics to work with than what they had.

On their last gasp attempt, the Celtics had a pass intended for Jaylen Brown picked off by the Hornets’ Miles Bridges, ending the game.

While 11-3 certainly is not a bad record (in fact, it’s actually the best in the NBA), the Celtics know the importance of collecting every win possible in order to set up home court advantage in the playoffs, and they certainly let an opportunity to do that slip away on Monday, made more frustrating by the egregious officiating mistake.

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That was the most points Theis has scored in a game since April 7, 2022, when he put up 22 points against the Bucks when he was still a member of the Celtics.

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