Nuggets coach Brian Shaw steamed at a call late in the game he thought should have gone the Nuggets way. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES — There’s a level of irritation contained within almost every shooting foul that is called on the floor anyway.
But late in the Nuggets’ loss to the L.A. Clippers on Monday night, that irritation reached the level of infuriating when one of those came at a critical juncture.
Down three points with nine seconds left, the Nuggets ran a play that got Danilo Gallinari a good look at a 3-point shot. And he pulled up for that shot. As Gallinari went up, Clippers forward Matt Barnes pulled down his right arm — his shooting arm. Gallinari switched the ball to his left hand and put the attempt up.
A foul was called.
But not a shooting foul.
Gallo was deemed to not be in the act of shooting. So instead of getting three free throws for one of their best shooters from the stripe, the Nuggets, instead, had to take the ball out of bounds again. The Clippers then fouled Darrell Arthur and put him on the free throw line to shoot two.
“I don’t know why we don’t get awarded three free throws on that shot,” Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. “He planted his feet, went up to shoot the ball in a shooting motion – that’s what the rules say – and they give them the ball out of bounds. We don’t get a chance to go to the free throw line and get three free throws.”
Asked about his level of frustration with the non-call, Gallinari simply grinned and said, “I’ll let the people watch the replay and make their own judgment.”
Shaw, however, steamed.
“It’s frustrating when night-in and night-out all of those kind of calls go against us,” he said. “And the explanation of i changes all the time, when we get an explanation. Or they admit that they made a mistake after the fact when it’s already cost us a game.”
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
