Huge mistake made by the referees in the Eurocup
After having a big advantage at the halftime 57-39, in the second part of the game, the Lithuanians from BC Rytas have lost ground in front of the host team Alba Berlin. The final of the confrontation was a thriller and eventually, Rytas has lost the battle. At 85-84 for them, Rytas had the opportunity for a defensive rebound to secure the win with 3 seconds left, but Saibou grabbed it for Alba and passed it to Hermannsson for the last shot.
Martin Hermannsson was fouled by Chris Kramer and exactly after the foul, Alba player tried to shoot the ball to the basket. It was not a foul on the shooting process, so normally you have the ball for a new attack. But Rytas committed 5 team fouls, so Alba had 2 free-throws. But instead of this, the referees gave 3 shots from the line, considering that Hermannsson was fouled in his 3 point attempt.
The truth was that Hermannsson was trying to find his way to the basket, penetrating the defense. He shot the ball exactly after he listened to the whistle, not in the foul process. But the referees were too scared that Alba Berlin can lose the game – maybe they didn’t realize that Rytas was in bonus – so they decided quickly to secure the win for the Germans with 3 free-throws.
With just 2 free-throws Alba would have won the game. They would have the advantage with 86-85 and just 1 second for Rytas to try an impossible shot. But with 3 free-throws given by the friendly refs, Alba were even closer to the win.
Gratian Cormos, info@brainbasketball.net
