Oops, they did it again: NBA admits officials blew two big calls in Kings’ loss to Thunder

For the second time in five days, the NBA has acknowledged officiating errors that cost the Kings dearly as they fight for their lives in the Western Conference playoff race.

The NBA admitted Wednesday that officials blew two calls that proved costly to the Kings in their 112-105 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday at Paycom Center.

The first occurred when a ball was tipped out of bounds with the Thunder leading 106-105 with 1:25 to play in the fourth quarter. The ball was awarded to Oklahoma City, but the NBA’s Last 2 Minute Report showed the Thunder’s Chet Holmgren was the last player to touch the ball.

“Holmgren (OKC) is the last player to touch the ball before it goes out of bounds and SAC should be given possession,” the Last 2 Minute Report states.

Officials made another mistake seven seconds later when they missed a traveling violation by Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who made a 13-foot jumper over Davion Mitchell to put the Thunder up 108-105 with 1:16 remaining.

According to the Last 2 Minute Report: “Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC) moves his pivot foot before entering his shooting motion.”

Kings coach Mike Brown pointed out the missed call after the game while noting that Gilgeous-Alexander went to the free-throw line 20 times.

“SGA traveled,” Brown said. “Great player, but he traveled and none of the officials said they saw it. And then, oof, he gets 20 free throws. It’s going to be tough to beat them. Great player, though. I haven’t watched the film. He probably earned every single one of them, but when you have one guy getting 20 free throws, that’s a tough, tough, tough thing to overcome.”

Wednesday’s Last 2 Minute Report came days after the NBA admitted officials missed a critical call in the final seconds of the Kings’ heartbreaking 101-100 loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday at TD Garden. The league acknowledged that 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.

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.”