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The Sacramento Kings -- in particular De'Aaron Fox -- were not happy with the way their loss to the Lakers on Saturday night was officiated down the stretch, but according to the NBA's Last Two Minute Report, the refs got it right. 

The first late-game call in legitimate question came with 48 seconds to play. The Kings were up two. LeBron James drives right and gets the whistle for the and-1 finish. Domantas Sabonis was tagged with the foul. His sixth. So not only was he out of the game the rest of the way, but LeBron got a free throw. He made it. That put the Lakers up one rather than it being a tie game, which changes everything. 

Watch all the replays, and you'll see that if Sabonis does touch LeBron, it's almost impossible to detect. 

Nonetheless, the L2M report indicates it was the correct call. 

  • "Sabonis (SAC) moves forward into James' (LAL) body and initiates contact as he defends the driving shot attempt." 

On the next Lakers possession, Russell Westbrook was very close to finishing a continuation and-1 layup, but the officials deemed that Westbrook was fouled before the shot, thus awarding Westbrook two free throws as Sacramento was in the bonus. Lakers fans were sure this should've been a continuation. They were wrong, as confirmed by the L2M report: 

  • "Mitchell (SAC) commits a take foul on Westbrook (LAL). The contact occurs prior to Westbrook's gather and continuation was correctly not awarded."

The next beef for Sacramento came with 3.1 seconds to play. De'Aaron Fox, who was again sensational down the stretch and had just tied the game with seven seconds to play with a fall-away 15-foot jumper, was whistled for a foul on a Dennis Schroder drive with 3.1 seconds to play. 

Fox didn't like the call, as evidenced by his since-deleted tweet that you'll see below. The Kings challenged it in real-time, and the call held up. The L2M confirmed it was indeed the right call.

  • "Replay review of the foul called on Fox (SAC) pursuant to a coach's challenge was deemed unsuccessful. Fox turns and delivers body contact to Schroder's (LAL) side during the driving shot attempt, which is subsequently affected."

I agree with this. It's not much, but you'll see that Fox definitely bumped Schroder off his path. 

Schroder made the free throws to put the Lakers up two. Sacramento was out of timeouts. With three seconds to play, Fox was able to get off a relatively clean look from just inside half-court, and if you watch all the angles below, you'll see that Russell Westbrook is possibly guilty of making contact with Fox's shooting arm. 

But again, the L2M report indicated that the officials got it right by not whistling Westbrook for a foul. 

  • Westbrook (LAL) contests the jump shot attempt and marginal contact occurs with Fox's (SAC) left arm after the release.

These were incredibly close calls, and you'll forgive the Kings if they're a little jumpy about being wronged in late-game situations. They have already had two calls go against them that resulted in losses only for the L2M report to indicate the refs got it wrong. 

On Nov. 2, Miami's Tyler Herro broke a tie game with 1.8 seconds to play with a game-winning 3-pointer, only for the L2M report the following day to confirm that Herro traveled on the play. The Kings should've had a shot at their own game-winner and at worst had a shot to win in overtime. 

On November 8, the NBA confirmed in its Last Two Minute Report that Sacramento's Kevin Huerter was fouled on his potential game-tying 3-pointer as time expired vs. the Warriors. The Kings lost by three, 116-113, and Heurter should have had a chance to tie the game and send it to overtime with three free throws. 

These losses could loom large with Sacramento currently trying to end a 16-year playoff drought and figuring to have a small margin for error in doing so. Conversely, this win could loom large for the Lakers, who are also walking a tight playoff rope. Fox said you want the players to decide the game, not the officials, and the NBA believes that's what happened with all these calls being deemed correct in the L2M report.