NBA says Mikal Bridges should have been called for a foul on the inbound that gave the Knicks a last shot at Indiana, one of two late errors that went New York’s way

The NBA says Mikal Bridges should have been called for a foul on the inbound play that gave the New York Knicks one last chance to tie the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. The league’s Last Two Minute report on Indiana’s 106-104 NBA Cup win, posted on Saturday afternoon ET, found two wrong calls in the final 1:23 of regulation, and both went New York’s way.

The report reviewed 20 plays at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and rated the other 18 correct. Reports were also posted for three more close games on Friday’s nine-game slate: the Clippers’ 113-112 win over Oklahoma City, Chicago’s 125-117 overtime win over Atlanta and Houston’s 125-118 win over Utah. The league found no errors in any of them. Reports cannot change results.

The missed foul with 5 seconds left

Indiana led 106-104 after Bridges hit a 19-foot pull-up with 10.2 seconds left. On the next possession, Bridges knocked the ball away from Aaron Nesmith, and the report rates that play as a clean strip: Bridges “makes clean contact with the ball and cleanly dislodges it away from Nesmith (IND) prior to incidental arm contact occurring.” The ball went out of bounds off Bridges with 5.1 seconds left, and the Pacers kept possession.

Pascal Siakam then tried to inbound the ball from the sideline to Andrew Nembhard. No foul was called, and OG Anunoby came up with the ball and called timeout with 2.8 seconds left. The report says that at 5.0 seconds, “Bridges (NYK) wraps an arm around Nembhard’s (IND) waist while attempting to get to the pass, affecting Nembhard’s SQBR,” the league’s shorthand for speed, quickness, balance and rhythm. It rates the play an incorrect non-call. A foul would have kept the ball with Indiana and, with New York in the penalty, sent Nembhard to the line.

After the timeout, the report says Anunoby’s screen on Quenton Jackson was legal, with only marginal contact. Karl-Anthony Towns got a 15-foot turnaround jumper off, and it missed. Nesmith hurt his left hand during the scramble in the final seconds, as our Saturday injury update reported.

Pascal Siakam pulls up to make the lead 8 with under 2 minutes to play 🔥 pic.twitter.com/iL22CNhZBM

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) November 14, 2026

The kicked ball that wasn’t

The first error came with the Pacers up 106-98. Siakam’s 15-foot pull-up with 1:49 left had given Indiana its eight-point lead, and the Pacers had the ball again when Nembhard was whistled for a kicked-ball violation with 1:22.7 to play. The report says “Nembhard’s (IND) foot makes incidental contact with the ball after it deflects off Brunson’s (NYK) foot. A kicked ball violation does not occur,” and rates it an incorrect call. New York took possession, and Towns’ hook shot with 1:04 left made it 106-100.

Time left	Score	Play	League ruling	Favored
1:22.7	IND 106-98	Kicked-ball violation called on Nembhard	Incorrect call	Knicks
0:05.0	IND 106-104	Bridges’ arm around Nembhard’s waist on the inbound	Incorrect non-call	Knicks

The calls it backed in Indianapolis

The report supports the eight-second violation called on Jalen Brunson with 1:40 left, saying he lost control of the ball off his own foot before reaching the frontcourt and then took more than eight seconds to get it there. It also backs the eight-second violation on Indiana with 31.4 seconds left, which gave the ball back to New York down six, and Brunson then scored on a driving layup.

It rates both of Bridges’ fouls on the next Indiana inbound correct: a take foul on Nembhard at 23.5 seconds, then contact with Siakam’s arm at 22.7 that affected “his ability to get to the pass.” Siakam missed both free throws. At 17.1 seconds, the report says Siakam, “despite maintaining vertical arms, jumps from point A to point B” as he defended Brunson’s drive, so that foul was correct too. Bridges’ pull-up came on the same possession.

No errors in Los Angeles, Chicago or Houston

In the Clippers’ 113-112 win over the Thunder, the report reviewed 17 plays and rated all of them correct. That includes the foul on Jared McCain on Darius Garland’s three-point play with 50.5 seconds left, the go-ahead basket: McCain “does not maintain a legal vertical position when he initiates contact with Garland’s (LAC) body,” it says. It also rates Derrick Jones Jr.’s contests on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s last two step-back jumpers as legal, including the one with 2.1 seconds left.

The report on Chicago’s overtime win over Atlanta covered 38 plays across the end of regulation and overtime, with no errors. It confirms that the ball went out of bounds off Aaron Wiggins with 1.9 seconds left in regulation and that possession was correctly given to the Bulls. In Houston’s win over Utah, the report covered 19 plays with no errors, including a coach’s challenge that failed with 9.7 seconds left. The officials had called Brice Sensabaugh for stepping out of bounds, and replay showed Fred VanVleet made legal contact with the ball on his contest before Sensabaugh stepped out with it. Houston kept possession.

How the reports work

The league publishes a Last Two Minute report the day after any game that is within three points at any time in the last two minutes, and for any overtime. A play is only marked wrong when the video evidence is clear. Friday’s reports follow Thursday’s report on Pistons-Wizards, which found six errors in Detroit’s double-overtime win, including a missed travel by AJ Dybantsa before his tying shot in the first overtime.

The Pacers, 5-8, visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 1 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. in Cairo. The Knicks, 6-6, visit the Toronto Raptors on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET, 1 a.m. Monday in Cairo. Follow every league-wide story on our Around the league page.