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The refs didn’t beat the Spurs in Game 5 — De’Aaron Fox did
The Anunoby Fox block Finals controversy is over before it really started. The NBA’s Last Two Minute report confirmed that OG Anunoby’s block on De’Aaron Fox in the closing seconds of Game 5 was entirely legal — Anunoby dislodged the ball before any meaningful contact — and the Spurs’ real problem is the decision Fox made in the first place. San Antonio’s best player, holding a one-point lead with under 15 seconds left, forced a contested shot he had no business taking. That choice almost certainly sent the Spurs home down 3-1 in the 2026 NBA Finals.
What the L2M report actually found
The league did find legitimate mistakes in those final two minutes. Officials missed a defensive three-second violation on Victor Wembanyama and incorrectly waved off a foul on Josh Hart on a play where Stephon Castle was ruled out of bounds for a turnover. That Hart miss matters — had San Antonio retained the ball on that possession while trailing by one, the entire final minute plays differently. The Knicks won by a single point, 107-106, so yes, a corrected call there could have changed the outcome.
But none of that exonerates Fox. The L2M report is explicit: the contact on the block was incidental, coming only after Anunoby had already separated the ball from Fox’s hands. Viral photographs made the play look dirty; the frame-by-frame sequencing says otherwise. Fox himself dribbled into a situation he could have avoided entirely — a simple foul drawn would have put him at the line with a chance to extend the lead to three.
The shot Fox should never have attempted
This is where I think most of the post-game conversation is underselling the real story. Fox recovering a loose ball with the Spurs up one and time running out is a gift. You protect it. You make the Knicks foul you. Instead, Fox attacked the rim against a 6-foot-7 wing defender with length specifically built for that moment. Even if Anunoby commits a foul 30 percent of the time on that play, the other 70 percent is exactly what happened — a clean block, a Knicks rebound, and the winning basket on the other end to cap a comeback the league described as the largest in NBA Finals history at 29 points.
The Spurs also scored 76 first-half points and went ice cold after intermission, so Fox’s miscue didn’t happen in a vacuum. An entire team unraveled. But the Fox possession is the one with a clear right answer that was ignored, and the L2M report just confirmed the Knicks’ defense shouldn’t carry the blame for it.
The L2M report as a mirror: what this says about Finals officiating going forward
Here’s the angle that deserves more attention: the NBA publishing same-day L2M reports during the Finals creates a permanent accountability loop that is fundamentally changing how teams, players, and fans process close losses. In prior eras, the Hart-Castle play gets debated in barbershops for a decade with no resolution. Now it’s documented and public within 24 hours. That transparency is good for the game’s credibility — but it also arms losing teams with a specific grievance list, which the Spurs’ camp will absolutely use as bulletin-board material heading into Game 6. San Antonio needs three straight wins. The L2M report just handed them a legitimate reason to feel aggrieved about the Hart call, even as it strips away the Fox narrative. Coach Mitch Johnson and the Spurs front office should be careful not to let the valid complaint drown out the self-inflicted wound.
The bet here: Fox comes out in Game 6 with something to prove, the Spurs steal one at home to force Game 7, and the block play becomes the defining image of this series regardless of how it ends. Watch whether New York lets Fox get anywhere near loose balls in crunch time — Anunoby’s ability to close on him in the open floor is now the Knicks’ most valuable defensive asset in this series.
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