NBA apologizes to Wolves for no foul call on Rubio's last-second shot

Timberwolves fans knew it immediately Wednesday night at Target Center, but just to confirm: The NBA on Thursday determined that officials indeed erred when they did not call a foul on the final play of the game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The league went by a video review and not their hearts, and used it to decide that Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant fouled Wolves guard Ricky Rubio as he launched a long three-pointer at the final buzzer.

Rubio should have been rewarded three free throws, the NBA said. If he had made all three, the game would have gone to overtime.

Instead, Rubio's shot flew left and fell short as the buzzer sounded while referee Jason Phillips ruled there had been no contact when Bryant had contested the shot while closing fast from behind.

The NBA's ruling doesn't change anything about the Lakers' 120-117 victory, other than to support after the fact Rubio's incredulous reaction when Phillips insisted there was no foul.

Both Rubio and Wolves coach Rick Adelman declined after the game to answer questions about whether each thought Bryant got superstar treatment.

"You're not going to goad me into that," Adelman said.

"We have to earn it, we have to earn our respect," Rubio said. "I don't understand how things go sometimes. … Sometimes it's not fair because we give 100 percent and sometime we can't control things, but we have to improve things we can control."

After the game, Bryant was dismissive of the Wolves' notion that they had gotten robbed.

"That's not a foul," he said.

He also disagreed with what the NBA the next morning concluded.

"I don't think I got him," Bryant said. "But, you know, that's a tough call to make, man. I just put my hand there. It's not like I went out and smacked him across the arm or anything like that."

"We would have went into overtime and won the game," Bryant said when asked what if a foul had been called. "Simple as that."

Had Wednesday's game gone to overtime, Bryant would have gone with five fouls. Los Angeles point guard Steve Nash would have had five and center Dwight Howard four as well.

Howard, though, got into third-quarter foul trouble and still delivered 25 points, 16 rebounds, five steals, and five blocked shots.

"Yeah, but they just put [Pau] Gasol there," Adelman said. "They've got two guys who are All-Stars."

Wolves forward Chase Budinger's 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting Wednesday was his best scoring night in his five games back from November knee surgery. He is averaging 9.6 points on 43.9 percent shooting in those five games.