The no-call on Jarrett Allen tripping Ausar Thompson wasn't that egregious

Did Jarrett Allen trip Ausar Thompson at the end of Wednesday night's Game 5 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons?

I'm inclined to side with veteran referee Tony Brothers on this one, who explained after the game why there was no call on the play which could've sent Thompson to the free throw line to shoot game-winning free throws at the end of regulation.

"During live play, both players were going for the ball and there was incidental contact with the legs with no player having possession of the ball," Brothers explained in the pool report.

And while incidental contact can certainly be whistled for a foul, especially in the case of a trip, that works both ways. Allen's feet might have accidentally clipped Thompson, but only after Thompson not-so-accidentally knocked Allen off balance. Both were going for the ball. Both initiated contact. Time expired. Play on.

Pistons fans understandably won't like that assessment of the play because they ultimately lost in overtime. But that's where the real frustration should come, because Detroit had an extra period to recover from blowing what was a nine-point lead with three minutes left. Instead, the collapse continued.

Thompson said it best himself, both before the game and after. "We can't look at the refs to get us a win. Even if it was a foul or not. We could've done better to put ourselves in a good position," he said Wednesday night.

Yup.

We say we don't want refs deciding games. Well, they didn't here. They let the players decide it for themselves in OT. The Cavs came out on top.

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