AFC Championship Officials Get Same Criticism as Celtics Officials Against LeBron James
The Kansas City Chiefs are headed to Super Bowl LVII after defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game.
While some marveled in the tightly contested game, many called out the poor officiating. Several calls appeared in the favor of Kansas City, including the questionable late hit on Patrick Mahomes that set up the winning field goal. Had this penalty not been called, the Chiefs would’ve only had eight seconds left in regulation with no timeouts.
This added to the sports-wide controversy with referees this past weekend. On Saturday night, the Boston Celtics benefitted from calls in their favor in the overtime win against the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron James, who played for the Miami Heat from 2010 to 2014, was furious after not getting a call after being fouled by Jayson Tatum. The contact would have given James two free throws with less than two seconds left, avoiding overtime.
Moments earlier, Jaylen Brown drew a late foul on his layup, granting him the tying free throw. Dennis Schroder and Patrick Beverley both received debatable technical fouls for expressing frustration with the calls being made.
Fans continue to have conversations about the power referees hold on the outcomes of games.
There were also accusations of the Philadelphia Eagles of benefitting from bad officiating in their victory over the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers had 11 accepted penalties, seven of which resulted in first downs for Philadelphia.
Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jayden.armant@bison.howard.edu or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.
