Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell enjoyed the game of a lifetime with his 71-point effort against the Bulls on Monday night, but the NBA now says it never should’ve happened.
In its last-two-minutes report on the game released Tuesday, the league said Mitchell should’ve been called for a lane violation with 4.1 seconds left in regulation when he shot a free throw and stepped over the foul line early. Mitchell then rebounded his own deliberately missed shot and hit a field goal to send the game to overtime.
Had the lane violation been called, it’s extremely unlikely the Cavs could’ve forced overtime.