Sixers locked into 7th seed after Cavaliers steal win

The Sixers made a valiant effort to overcome a double-digit fourth quarter deficit, but the Cavaliers and the referees proved to be too much to overcome. Louis Williams made a jumper with 5 seconds left that gave the Sixers a 90-89 lead, but that still left plenty of time for LeBron James and the Cavaliers to make a shot to win the game. However, when James missed a lay-up where it clearly looked like he traveled, and then Devin Brown grabbed a rebound and tried a weak shot that barely hit rim the game was over, right? The Sixers thought so, as they celebrated the win and headed off to the locker room. The refs thought otherwise. The refs conferenced for at least 5 minutes after the game was over and decided that Samuel Dalembert fouled Devin Brown on his putback attempt with 0.2 seconds left and awarded Brown two free throw attempts, which he subsequently made to win the game for the Cavaliers, 91-90.

So, not only did the refs miss LeBron's blatant travel, they also blew the call on the follow-up by Brown. One could make the argument that LeBron was fouled harder on his lay-up attempt than Brown was by Dalembert. Of course, if Andre Miller doesn't fall asleep on the play and let Devin Brown grab the board, the game would have been over and the refs would never have had a chance to screw the Sixers.

The loss, coupled with a Raptors win over the crappy Heat, locks the Sixers into the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference and sets up a first-round match-up with the Detroit Pistons. The season series between the two is tied 2-2, with the Pistons winning the two early season contests and the Sixers winning the most recent two. Every game has been closely contested, so that bodes well for the Sixers to do some damage.

Here is video of the entire ending sequence to the game. Watch the refs screw the Sixers, then watch Andre Miller punt the ball after the game: