The 'hug' that could have been really bad for the NBA

If the Suns would have won Game 4 of the NBA Finals, the missed foul call on Devin Booker would have been one of the biggest refereeing errors in league history.

With 3:41 left in the game, Booker had five fouls and was the only one left on a fast break with Jrue Holiday going toward the basket. Booker went up and… essentially hugged him. And it was egregious. A foul all the way.

It should have easily fouled him out of the game. On top of this disastrous miss, Booker probably had like eight fouls, if we are keeping it real.

Luckily for the referees’ sake, Milwaukee still prevailed. This morning we are talking more about how insane Giannis Antetokounmpo’s block on Deandre Ayton (with around a minute left) had been, and how Khris Middleton showed up and dropped 40 to neutralize Booker’s 42-point performance.

That Greek Freak play might have been one of the best individual defensive plays I’ve ever seen. And he did it in one of the biggest moments imaginable. He stopped the hottest player in the game last night on the pick-and-roll, then recovered quick enough to block another 7-foot player’s alley-oop dunk attempt.

It was wild.

The Bucks have now tied the series up and it’s a best of three with the championship on the line. Indeed, the NBA dodged a bullet with the Bucks winning, and Giannis making one of the best plays in Finals history.

As a basketball fan I wasn’t too upset with the no-calls, because anytime Booker is on the floor I want to see his spectacular shot-making — especially when he’s as hot as he was last night. But you gotta call the obvious stuff. You can’t let this man just hack up every player on the court.

I can’t wait to see how this series is going to end. Hopefully not with us talking about the refs, though.