NBA admits officials missed critical call in Kings’ heartbreaking loss to Boston Celtics

The NBA admitted Saturday that officials missed a critical call in the final seconds of the Sacramento Kings’ heartbreaking 101-100 loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday at TD Garden.

According to the league’s Last 2 Minute Report, Celtics guard Svi Mykhailiuk should have been called for a shooting foul on a putback attempt by Kings guard Colby Jones with 1.9 seconds remaining.

“Mykhailiuk (BOS) follows through and initiates illegal contact with Jones’ (SAC) face after he tips the ball,” the Last 2 Minute Report stated.

Jones should have gone to the free-throw line for two shots with a chance to win the game for Sacramento. Instead, Boston escaped with the win. The Kings are now a half-game behind the Los Angeles Lakers for eighth in the Western Conference playoff race going into Sunday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets. The Kings are two games behind the Phoenix Suns for the No. 6 seed with five games remaining.

Jones confirmed what replays appeared to show, telling The Sacramento Bee he was hit in the mouth.

Kings coach Mike Brown expressed his frustration after the game, saying “we got smacked in the face and it didn’t get called.”

Brown said officials told him there was no foul on the play.

“Colby just gets smacked on the face with 1.7 to go and you’re yelling, ‘Foul! Foul!’ and they said nobody got hit, it was just physical, clean basketball,” Brown said. “That’s tough to swallow when you see a guy get smacked in the face. It’s tough. ... I don’t know how you miss that one, but we got to move on and get ready for Brooklyn.”