J.B. Bickerstaff Reacts To Controversial No Call In Cavs' Loss To Raptors

Pascal Siakam lined up on the baseline preparing to inbound the ball with less than two seconds to go. By rule, the inbounder is not allowed to run the baseline or move to find an open man and the Cleveland Cavaliers coaches knew this.

With that, Siakam appeared to shuffle his feet before passing the ball in but no whistle was blown for a travel. The Toronto Raptors walked away with the three-point victory leaving the Cavaliers without any more chances to steal a win.

Needless to say, J.B. Bickerstaff was not happy about the no-call and continued to plead his case to officials after time expired in the game.

Here's a good look at the replay of the play in question.

Cavs drop a close one to the Raptors at Scotiabank Arena.

Did Pascal Siakam move on this inbounds pass? pic.twitter.com/AFhDG0gG3W
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) January 2, 2024

Bickerstaff doubled down on his perspective following the game and was very blunt about what the call should have been.

"He traveled for sure. There's no doubt about it," said Bickerstaff. "When you inbound the ball on the sideline after a timeout, you are not allowed to move and he clearly worked his way up the sideline. That's clearly a violation and the ball should've been ours with a chance to win the game."

There's no way to point to one specific play and say that it was the reason the Cavs lost this game. Cleveland started out flat on offense and defense in the first half and they had plenty of opportunities down the stretch to tie or take the lead.

However, it is very clear that Siakam moves his feet to get better a position to inbound the ball. It's unfortunate that the Cavs didn't get the ball back to have one more chance to take the win.

It will be interesting to see how the NBA's two-minute report analyzes this ending.