Utah Jazz: Houston calls foul on late-game foul

A critical foul called on rookie Luis Scola in the waning moments of Monday night's Game 2 of the Jazz-Rockets NBA first-round playoff series remained the talk of town Tuesday in Houston.

Scola was tagged for his left-corner contact with Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko, negating a 3-pointer by Houston guard Bobby Jackson that would have tied the game at 85 with 45.4 seconds remaining.

Rockets coach Rick Adelman was livid at his news conference after the Jazz's 90-84 win.

"He (Kirilenko) literally flopped," Adelman said. "Let the players decide it. We tie the game, let's see if they can win. That obviously changed everything."

Description of the play from ESPN.com's John Hollinger: "(Tracy) McGrady had recovered a loose ball in the left corner and was passing the ball crosscourt to (Jackson). ... But as Kirilenko charged out to defend McGrady, Scola put his arm out and nudged him.

"Kirilenko embellished the contact with a swan dive ... that would have made Greg Louganis proud. Meanwhile, replays seemed to show referee Tony Brothers looking away from the play until he noticed Kirilenko completing his second somersault and tucking into the pike position, and only then making the call. It wasn't his call anyway — the outside ref is supposed to make it, and he took a pass."

The narrative in Tuesday's Houston Chronicle: "Scola appeared to push in the direction of Kirilenko in the corner and Kirilenko went flying, which got the referees' attention ... The call perhaps changed the momentum of the game and pushed the Rockets into a 2-0 hole."

McGrady, like Adelman, was incensed.

"You can't call that," the Rockets' star told the Houston Chronicle. "I saw a replay, and that was a bad call. I like Tony Brothers, but that was a bad call. Very, very bad call. Three points down at a crucial point in the game, and Kirilenko flops. He flops, and you call the foul on that? It was a bad call."

Scola, meanwhile, took the high road.

"I don't like to put the loss on the ref," the rookie from Argentina said. "I don't think that's fair. It was part of the game, and sometimes they make good calls and sometimes they make mistakes just like we do. I don't think we lost because of them."