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With 57.1 seconds remaining in Game 2 of the Los Angeles Lakers‘ first-round loss to the Denver Nuggets, LeBron James was called for a critical foul on a Jamal Murray miss that sent the young star guard to the free-throw line with a chance to tie the game. The contact certainly appeared marginal on first viewing, and though the Last Two Minute report would later confirm that it was indeed a foul, there would have been hardly any downside to challenging the call. The Lakers had two timeouts left, and even if they had lost the challenge, the time it would have taken for the officials to review the play would have given an exhausted, older Lakers team playing at altitude some badly-needed rest.
Darvin Ham, having already overseen the loss of a
