NBA Report Clears Up Controversial Finish To Celtics-Pacers Matchup

The Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers concluded their Monday night battle with a wild finish, creating a great deal of controversy within the final few seconds in the fourth quarter.

It all began when Jaylen Brown pulled up for a potential go-ahead mid-range jumper, which initially charged Indiana’s Buddy Hield with a shooting foul for making contact with Brown’s head. Upon review from a Pacers challenge, the call was stunningly overturned, and it haunted the Celtics on the very next possession, sending Boston to the loser’s column.

With the game tied at 131-131, Kristaps Porzingis contested a game-winning attempt by Pacers guard Benedict Mathurin, which debatably was ruled a foul. That rolled the red carpet for Mathurin to drain 2-of-3 free-throw attempts, helping Indiana secure a 133-131 victory while leaving the Celtics confused and left to digest the costly call.

Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla addressed the call postgame, claiming that Hield admitted to fouling Brown moments after the play.

“I can’t wait till 4 o’clock tomorrow,” Mazzulla told reporters, per NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “I just can’t wait till 4 o’clock. I’m not bothered, it’s just Buddy Hield told me that he fouled him so I can’t wait for the last two-minute report.”

On Tuesday, over an hour at 4 p.m. ET, the NBA released its last two-minute report from the Boston-Indiana battle:

The NBA’s L2M report for Celtics/Pacers:

• Reversal of the foul called on Buddy Hield vs. Jaylen Brown was correct

• Officials missed a screen foul on Myles Turner with 2 seconds to play

• Foul call on Kristaps Porzingis vs. Bennedict Mathurin was incorrect

This is wild…… pic.twitter.com/epT7qyhAwr

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) January 9, 2024

The findings claim that Brown’s overturned call was correct.

“On replay review, the coach’s challenge of the shooting foul called on Hield (IND) was deemed successful,” the report read. “The video clearly shows that Hield reaches forward and makes contact with the ball from behind Brown (BOS). While in contact with the ball, Hield also makes minimal contact with Brown’s head, and on review that contact was correctly deemed incidental”

However, the report still left two botched foul calls, which both went against the Celtics and handed the Pacers a game-deciding push.

The Porzingis call, which led to the game-ending free-throw attempts, was deemed incorrect. Porzingis made a clean contest with legal contact, although it couldn’t be reviewed — leaving Boston with 0.2 seconds in regulation, down two points.

The second missed call was an illegal screen by Indiana’s Myles Turner, which officials didn’t catch — which occurred with two seconds left.

Boston split the back-to-back Indiana trip, but does remain atop the Eastern Conference with an NBA-best 28-8 record. The C’s also remain the only team left in the NBA with single-digit losses, 36 games into the campaign.