Joventut de Badalona came close to beating Real Madrid at the Wizink Center, but fell short in Dani Miret's debut as coach. Deck, with a triple with 1.6 seconds left, squandered the options of Penya (95-92), whose players ended up very displeased with the refereeing. In fact, Andrew Andrews, on X (former Twitter), described the referees' decisions as "a robbery."
The controversial play took place eight seconds from the end, when Real Madrid led 92-90. Andrews drove to the rim with a drive in which Hezonja fouled him. Even so, the Penya player was able to shoot a basket. The Croatian blocked the shot, but it had already touched the board, so the referees signaled 2 1.
Two of the referees confirmed the decision after observing the repeated play, ruling the basket as valid. However, the third referee, who had not seen the repeated play, told one of his teammates to review it again to confirm that the ball completely exceeded the level of the rim. After the second review, the referees changed the initial decision, removing the two points from Joventut.
After the match, the Penya players exploded on social networks. Andrews declared: "I've never seen anything like this in my entire life. It's a robbery." For his part, Andrés Feliz commented on the Ràdio Ciutat de Badalona microphones: "The final play was incredible, I have never seen anything like it."
Likewise, the Dominican player also did not understand the fifth foul that took him out of the game with one minute remaining: "The fifth foul that they called me and that cut off my counterattack was not, I do not touch it unless they show it to me with the video in the hand".
The Penya coach, calmer in his assessment of the refereeing, commented: "I had not had a second review of the instant replay and I am surprised. What the referee told me is that there was a part of the ball that, seeing it in the second repetition, made the basket invalid because it was below the rim," Miret said.
The rule was well applied by the referees, since point 31.2.1 of the regulations states that "it is an illegal interposition for a player to touch the ball after a shot after having touched the ring when the ball is completely above the level of the hoop". When the ex-azulgrana touches the ball, it is not completely above the rim.
Even so, Joventut's complaints also focused on the disparity in criteria of the referees, since, in the first place, they considered the basket as valid without taking into account the regulations.
The defeat, and the way in which it occurred, after a great game by Penya, leaves the Catalan team with remote options of entering the playoff, as they are three wins away from eighth with five games remaining.
