Last Night The Charlotte Hornets Were Hit With As Brutal A Screw Job As You'll Ever See

Grant Halverson. Getty Images.

Not only did we have ourselves a nice little thriller last night down in Charlotte, we also had one of the biggest screw jobs you'll ever see. You see in the sport of basketball, depending on where you take your shots from you're awarded a certain amount of points. For certain areas, you have to be behind certain lines. Like three pointers. In order for that shot to be counted as a three, your entire foot has to be behind the line when you release your shot. Pretty standard stuff. Here's why this is relevant information. After blowing a 14 point second half lead, the Hornets found themselves in the final two minutes of OT leading 91-89. Kyle Lowry went up with that big time shot coming off the DHO and he stuck it. Big time player making a big time shot. Only one problem. He was in no way anywhere close to being behind the line. Why is that a problem? He was awarded 3 points. Heat went up 92-91.

You might be thinking, "big deal, they'll just review it at a stoppage and change it like what always happens". Normally I'd say you'd be right, but that is not what happened. You see they called it a three in real time despite not being a three, but then there wasn't a stoppage of play. They just kept…playing. Think of how differently players will approach possessions down the stretch if they don't know the score. Everyone on the court thought they were down 1, but they were tied. Miles Bridges made a three to make things 94-92, only it was really 94-91. Again, no stoppage of play so the Heat came right back down and Lowry scored again to tie it at 94. Now we're at 1:25 left, so a full 37 seconds of game time with no stoppage with the score tied by the Hornets really up 1. LaMelo took a three that missed. Does he take that shot if the Hornets are leading? Still, no stoppage of play and now there's 45 seconds. Lowry three. Heat up 97-94, but really 96-94. Hornets timeout.

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OK, now you're thinking they finally have a chance to look at that first three and overturn it before this huge Hornets possession. Only they come out and say too much time has passed to challenge it, and they never look at it. The 3 points stand despite not being 3 points. The Hornets then end up scoring out of the timeout and inch closer to 97-96. In reality, they should have just tied the game. After Lowry turns it over, Montrezl Harrell is fouled with 1.7 seconds left with a chance to win it at the line. He makes the first. The scoreboard says tied, but everyone with a brain knows that was the game winning FT. Unfortunately, he missed the second. You could argue he should just make both and win the game, I say he already made enough FTs to win the game. They won 97-96.

In 2OT, the Heat pull away and the Hornets lose a game they in fact, previously won.

My question is this. How is this possible in 2022? How is there just no review? Aren't all these shots looked at all the time during stoppages? Why should a team be penalized because there wasn't a stop in gameflow? So what, they had to burn a foul or something down the stretch in OT in a close game? How does that make any sense. All because the official clearly got what was blatantly obvious wrong. That feels a little messed up. Then you add in all the ramifications this game could have with how tight of a race things are in the East and it's even worse if you're a Hornets fan or Bulls fan. That win gave MIA the top spot.

Call me old fashioned, but I feel like to get three points you should have to make a three. To make a three you have to be behind the line. Brutal loss for the Hornets who are now 1-9 in their last 10 and are fighting for their play in lives. To go from beating a MIA team to getting boned like that is one hell of a way to enter the break. Sucks for them but clean this shit up Adam Silver. Grow up.