{"id":610419,"date":"2026-04-28T02:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T02:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/610419\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T02:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T02:33:10","slug":"nba-admits-to-seven-missed-calls-at-end-of-cavs-game-4-loss-to-raptors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/610419\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA admits to seven missed calls at end of Cavs Game 4 loss to Raptors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> had chances to take a decisive 3-1 lead over the Toronto Raptors<\/a> in Game 4. They had an eight-point advantage with five minutes to play, but squandered the lead<\/a> with a combination of bad defense, reckless decisions, and missed point-blank shots. This all added up to a 93-89 loss<\/a> with the series tied at two games apiece.<\/p>\n

Likewise, the referees didn\u2019t have a great close to the game. According to the Last Two Minute Report<\/a>, they missed seven calls down the stretch. Four should\u2019ve gone against the Cavs while three should\u2019ve gone against the Raptors.<\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s get into all seven.<\/p>\n

First, Evan Mobley<\/a> should\u2019ve been called for a defensive three-second violation<\/a> with 1:57 remaining in the fourth quarter. This would\u2019ve resulted in a free throw and Toronto keeping possession.<\/p>\n

This possession for the Raptors ended up in two points thanks to a shooting foul by James Harden<\/a> and two made free throws by Brandon Ingram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The second missed call also benefited the Cavs. Donovan Mitchell<\/a> should\u2019ve been called for a double dribble with 1:36 remaining because he pinned the ball against his leg.<\/p>\n

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The replay clearly shows this happened. Mitchell should\u2019ve either thrown this out to the corner or dumped it off to Mobley. It seems like he was going to do that, but something caused him to change his mind. The poor decision resulted in a missed shot. Even though the double dribble wasn\u2019t called, the outcome of this play was the same for Toronto.<\/p>\n

The third missed call happened at the 1:08 mark and also went in the Cavs\u2019 favor. Harden should\u2019ve been called for an offensive foul<\/a>. The league found that he pushed off of Jamal Shead<\/a>, which created a wide-open 14-foot jumper. Harden missed this.<\/p>\n

Even though this was a missed call, the result on the floor was the same. This was an empty possession for Cleveland regardless. Since this wasn\u2019t a loose-ball foul, it wouldn\u2019t have resulted in free throws the other way.<\/p>\n

The fourth blown call benefited the Raptors and completely changed the momentum of the game. Mitchell\u2019s eight-second violation caused this game to completely get away from the Cavs. And it shouldn\u2019t have happened. Instead, this should\u2019ve been a foul on Shead.<\/p>\n

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The league stats: \u201cSheed moves forward into Mitchell\u2019s path and delivers body to body contact prior to making any contact with the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shead made a heads-up play to charge Mitchell, but he does get the body first. He goes through Mitchell to poke the ball free. This should\u2019ve been a foul.<\/p>\n

If this were called correctly on the floor, the Cavs would\u2019ve gotten two free throws. Mitchell would\u2019ve had a chance to make it a three-point game. Instead, Toronto came down the court and retook the lead.<\/p>\n

The fifth also hurt the Cavs.<\/p>\n

With Cleveland down one with 34 seconds left, Sam Merrill<\/a> should\u2019ve been awarded a free throw with the Cavs keeping possession. Collin Murray-Boyles<\/a> committed an off-ball foul by throwing him to the ground with 34 seconds left.<\/p>\n

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The report states: \u201cMurray-Boyles moves into Merrill\u2019s path and delivers contact that affects his FOM (freedom of movement). The contact occurs prior to the release of the inbound pass, and an away from the play foul is warranted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sixth missed call technically benefited Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Max Strus<\/a> should\u2019ve been called for a personal foul<\/a> after Brandon Ingram rebounded Mitchell\u2019s missed three with 23 seconds remaining. Strus knocked the ball out of bounds. The Cavs fouled Barnes a few seconds later.<\/p>\n

The final missed call also disadvantaged Merrill. He should\u2019ve been awarded a free throw after Barnes grabbed during a long two-point make with six seconds remaining.<\/p>\n

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If this game were called correctly, the Raptors would\u2019ve been awarded one more free-throw attempt, while the Cavs should\u2019ve received four additional free throws. That hurts in a game that was this close.<\/p>\n

The Cavs have no one to blame but themselves for the loss. They should\u2019ve won this game even with the calls that went against them. That said, it\u2019s frustrating to be on the wrong end of calls that directly influenced the outcome of a pivotal playoff game. The referees needed to be better than they were.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cleveland Cavaliers had chances to take a decisive 3-1 lead over the Toronto Raptors in Game 4.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2242,107827,8174,80476,13054,51299,155496,194384,6418,27497,355,111822,99,2970],"class_list":["post-610419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-boston-celtics","tag-brandon-ingram","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-collin-murray-boyles","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-evan-mobley","tag-free-throw","tag-jamal-shead","tag-james-harden","tag-max-strus","tag-nba","tag-sam-merrill","tag-sports","tag-toronto-raptors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}