VIDEO: Toronto Raptors Were Aided by Some Very Sketchy Calls in the Final Seconds

The Toronto Raptors escaped with a Game 7 win over the Indiana Pacers after nearly choking away a 16-point fourth-quarter lead. Drake and his comrades’ first playoff series win since 2001 was greatly aided by two late no-calls that went in their favor.

With less than 20 seconds remaining and the lead down to three points, Paul George attempted a lob pass to Ian Mahinmi. DeMar DeRozan appeared to shove the Pacers’ big man during his jump to disrupt the timing. The refs didn’t seem to mind.

Then, as the Raptors tried to run out the clock, DeRozan got trapped near the sideline and executed a spin move. And by spin move, I mean travel. He traveled.

That’s the benefit of having home-court advantage in a winner-take-all game.

The idea that officials should swallow their whistles and let the players decide the outcome is easy to support and better than the alternative of a free-throw-shooting contest. But it’s hard to believe the best refs in the game could miss two obvious infractions in such a short span.