LeBron James, Dwyane Wade Comment on NBA's 2-Minute Officiating Reports

After the referees came under fire for not blowing the whistle in the final seconds of the Charlotte Hornets' 90-88 victory over the Miami Heat in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference playoff series, Heat star Dwyane Wade addressed the NBA's two-minute reports, which are used to publicly critique the job done by the officials.  

Speaking to reporters (via ESPN.com's Michael Wallace) after the Heat's Friday workout, Wade called the two-minute reports "pointless."

"It does nothing for us or for any other team," Wade said. "Go through the whole game and break it down, and I think it will help the refs and the league continue to grow. But those last two minutes; that's not a good thing."

Wade added it's "easy to go back and Monday morning quarterback things," but that there is "a lot that can happen through the whole game that can affect the last two minutes."

Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James, who is also one of Wade's best friends, echoed the sentiments of his former teammate. 

“It changes absolutely nothing,” James said, per Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. "I think it sends a bad message to our fans of thinking the game is only won in the last two minutes."

James continued by talking about how every foul, called or not called, and not just plays in the final two minutes of a game, should be discussed.

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I don’t think they should hear that ‘Oh, it’s OK to talk about the last two minutes calls missed.’ We should talk about the whole game, if that’s the case because the whole game matters. You miss an assignment in the first quarter, it can hurt you in the fourth quarter. So I’m not fond of it all.

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In 2015, the NBA announced it would be releasing a two-minute report featuring all fouls called and non-calls in the final two minutes of close games. 

The two-minute report became a talking point earlier in the postseason when the NBA announced that Houston Rockets star James Harden should have been called for an offensive foul against Golden State's Andre Iguodala on the play in which Harden hit a game-winning shot in Game 3 of their playoff series.

It's a difficult situation for the NBA because publicly putting out reports about officials, particularly when they make mistakes, will lead to intense scrutiny and backlash.

At the same time, the league is at least acknowledging when mistakes happen, as well as giving praise publicly when correct calls that were questioned in the heat of the moment are made. 

James and Wade are smart enough to know the reports don't really change anything. Harden's game-winner wasn't suddenly overturned. 

NBA referees, especially in the postseason, are traditionally the best in the business. Fouls are judgment calls, and often, they can lead to mistakes, but those mistakes aren't just happening in the final two minutes of a game.