NBA cites pair of missed calls late in Heat loss to Pacers

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo reacts after being called for a foul during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis, Sunday, April 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)

NEW YORK — The NBA has acknowledged two officiating mistakes — one wrong call, one missed call — in the final minute of Miami’s 117-115 loss at Indiana on Sunday, a defeat that helped send the Heat into the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference going into the NBA season’s final week.

Miami’s Tyler Herro, the league said, was fouled by Indiana’s T.J. McConnell while shooting a 3-pointer with about 55 seconds remaining. No foul was called on the play.

And a foul called by official Marat Kogut against Heat center Bam Adebayo with 17.1 seconds left was made in error, the league said. Indiana’s Myles Turner made two free throws after that foul call.

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The league, in its public report detailing calls and non-calls made in the last two minutes of close games, said Monday that Adebayo “makes clean contact with the ball, simultaneous to Herro … making incidental hand-on-ball contact to dislodge it from Turner.”

Miami did not have a challenge remaining to contest the foul called on Adebayo. The Heat used it unsuccessfully earlier in the fourth quarter.

Indiana remains in the No. 6 spot in the East. Miami’s loss, combined with Philadelphia’s win at San Antonio later Sunday night, dropped the Heat to No. 8. Had the Heat won at Indiana — a game in which they trailed by 22 points before rallying to make it close — they would have been in the No. 6 spot.

The top six teams in each conference are assured of playoff spots. The teams that finish seventh through 10th in each conference will be part of the play-in tournament next week to determine the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds.