Fox, Brown lament another ref no-call on last play of a Kings loss – MASHAHER

Fox, Brown lament another ref no-call on last play of a Kings loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO – De’Aaron Fox was adamant he was fouled by Phoenix guard Bradley Beal in the final moments against the Suns on Friday night and made no attempt to hide his frustration over the non-call following the Kings’ costly 108-107 loss at Golden 1 Center.

Television replays were unclear. Fox took the ball at the top of the arc following an inbounds pass then started driving toward the hoop. Beal slid over from the key, and in an attempt to knock the ball loose, took a swipe. Devin Booker came over for the double-team before Fox lost control of the ball without getting a shot off, allowing the Suns to run off the final seconds to get the win.

“I got fouled,” Fox said after the loss. “Wasn’t even close to the ball. You can go watch it. (Beal) very clearly got me, but whenever it’s me they always say ‘I didn’t see it,’ or ‘marginal contact.’ Doesn’t matter what the play was. If I got fouled I got fouled. Trying to pick up the ball, he hits my whole arm, they get a steal.”

Kings coach Mike Brown’s frustration with the referees ran deeper than just the one call.

Seven seconds before Fox thought he was fouled, Sacramento big man Domantas Sabonis was called for a foul while trying to box out Jusuf Nurkic with the game tied at 107. Nurkic shanked the first free throw off the front of the rim before sinking the second, which proved to be the game-winner.

“From my seat I’m baffled,” Brown said. “I’m not sure why we can’t get a call from an NBA official down the stretch. For them to call a box-out on Sabonis, a box-out foul when the game is as physical as it is, and give them two free throw attempts to take the lead with seconds left in the game (was wrong).

“I hope I’m wrong but from my seat it looked like Fox got hit across the arm. I actually pray that I’m wrong because then I’ll sleep better at night.”

Brown said this wasn’t the first time during the 2023-24 season he felt like the referees missed calls in a critical game. Each time, the NBA’s two-minute report noted the officials’ mistakes.

By then, it’s obviously too late to matter. And it’s little solace when the result is a defeat on what the Kings believe was a blown call – or in this case, a non-call.

“They probably look at the Kings on our jersey, I don’t know,” Brown replied when asked what he thought his team needed to do to have more calls fall their way. “I don’t know what it is. I’m assuming we have to do more in the league to get respect from the officials. It’s just tough to wait for the two-minute report and hear these things when it’s right in front of them.

“I just hope I’m wrong. To get another two-minute report that said they made a crucial mistake in a game of this magnitude … it’s just not fair.”

Even though replays were unclear, the truth is that the pivotal game for the Kings should have never come down to the controversial ending.

Sacramento controlled the game most of the night before the Kings crumbled at the end. They held a 103-96 lead with 4:50 remaining, then allowed the Suns to close it on a 12-4 run.

Instead of going into Sunday’s regular-season finale with a shot at moving up to the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference then needing only one victory in two games to move on, the Kings now face the very real possibility of being in the bottom half of the play-in bracket where it’s basically win-or-go-home.

“We can’t sit here like the season’s over,” Fox said. “We’re locked into a play-in game. We still have a chance and we have to figure this out.”

Still, it won’t be so easy to move on while the memory of the final play lingers. It will be even tougher if the NBA’s two-minute report reveals that the officials did indeed miss the foul on Fox.

“It’s just tough when you can’t get a call but the other team keeps getting calls and the officials feel that they’re right,” Brown said. “Then the two-minute report comes out … and (the refs) go home and sleep at night. We’re up all night fretting over the game because we’re fighting for our playoff lives.

“It’s tough to see it from my seat. I hope the officials were right on the no-call. Just a tough way to lose basketball games when stuff is as obvious as it is.”