NBA’s Last Two Minute Report validates Bulls’ DeMar DeRozan’s beef

NBA’s latest two-minute report confirms DeRozan’s beef originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

DeMar DeRozan was right.

And the Bulls found themselves on the wrong end of another two-minute NBA final report.

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, DeRozan had his career-high eight turnovers, but insisted — as he did in real time for officials of the game — that Reggie Jackson fouled it on a drive with just under 40 seconds left and the Chicago Bulls trail by one.

“I was the victim of a fault. What went wrong was that they didn’t call him. As simple as that. It’s frustrating to be in this situation,” DeRozan said at the time. “I didn’t want to settle for a jumpshot. As soon as I turned, his arm came close and I couldn’t turn completely. It makes no sense to me. Try to be aggressive. Try to go down. It was clearly a fault. It just sucks that you wake up (Wednesday) and read the report for the last two minutes and we’ll miss something else that might have cost us the game.”

The NBA actually released its final two-minute report for Tuesday’s games around 3 p.m. Central, so it’s a safe bet DeRozan was a long awake. But he was right.

Jackson (LAC) reaches and makes contact with the left arm of DeRozan (CHI) and affects his drive shot attempt

That was the official wording of the league, which also acknowledged the high-profile missed calls at the end of the Bulls’ losses to the Wizards once and the Cavaliers twice. In Wizards and First Cavaliers instances, both times the league recognized missed calls on DeRozan’s game-winning shot attempts.

This time, the missed call was not on a winning shot attempt as the foul should have been called with 38.7 seconds to go. But DeRozan, who had to be held back by teammates after the no-call because he kept arguing so vehemently with the officials, is an 88.6 percent free throw shooter this season. Had he traveled to the line, where he went 4-for-6 against the Clippers, who knows how the final 38.7 seconds would have gone?

The story continues

Of course, the Bulls had several other opportunities, including Zach LaVine who missed two of three free throws with 63 seconds left after being fouled on a 3-pointer.

The only other missed call on the final two-minute report came when the NBA said Alex Caruso should have been whistled for a 5-second violation on an incoming play that resulted in a turnover anyway. It’s the second time in eight days the Bulls have failed to execute an inbound play at a crucial time.

No official can help them with this.

Click here to follow the Bulls Talk podcast.