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NBA admits that Mike Brown was right: Tyler Herro traveled to beat the Kings

Even the NBA was forced to admit that Mike Brown had some points when called out the referees of Heat vs. Kings.

NBA: Sacramento Kings at Miami Heat Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

Update: On Thursday, the NBA released its daily Last Two Minute report, and admitted that Tyler Herro should have been called for a travel on his game-winning shot to help the Heat beat the Kings on Wednesday.

From that report:

Herro (MIA) ends his dribble by gathering in the air and landing on both feet (although his left lands slightly before his right). When he moves his right foot, he establishes his left foot as his pivot foot, which he then lifts and replaces to the floor before taking his jump shot.

Original story, with comments from Mike Brown, follows.


The Sacramento Kings fell, 110-107, against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. It was a strong effort by Sacramento as Domantas Sabonis had his best game of the season, flirting with a triple-double (22 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists), Kevin Huerter stayed hot dropping 22 points, and Malik Monk came off the bench to score 19 points to go along with his seven assists.

But it wasn’t just those three: The offense looked improved tonight overall. More offensive sets were run, and the guys were gelling well together even with De'Aaron Fox (knee) sidelined. Their communication on defense was loud, and it was noticeable on the television just how engaged everyone was on both ends of the floor.

Unfortunately, with just 10 seconds left on the clock and the game knotted up at 107 a piece, the Heat put the ball in the hands of their young star, Tyler Herro. Herro would call for a screen to get Terrence Davis on him, pump fake, get Davis in the air to create space and score the game-winning basket.

Or so we thought?

After further review of the play, Herro took a side step after the pump fake to create the room from Davis to score that game-winning 3-pointer. A clear no-call by the referee, who seemed to be looking directly at Herro's foot placement prior to the shot going up.

Kings head coach Mike Brown vented his frustrations after the game.

“To not make that call, to me, is unbelievable," Brown said. "I don't think we got a fair whistle."

While Brown's comments didn't come with an angry tone, the frustration was clearly there in his words, and after rewatching that play it’s hard not to see Brown’s point. It will be interesting to see if the League will look to fine coach Brown after making these comments regarding the refs. Perhaps they won't after the 2-minute report is released and they look at the video, but the NBA usually doesn’t miss a chance to protect their referees.

Unfortuantely, none of that will ultimately give the Kings back this chance to put a W in the win column. Sacramento will look to regroup as it prepares to face off against the No. 1 pick in this year's draft, Paolo Banchero and the Orlando Magic on Saturday.