NBA admits referee error in not spotting a foul on Sacramento Kings rookie Colby Jones in final moments of nail-biting defeat to Boston Celtics

The NBA has admitted that the referee missed a crucial foul on Sacramento Kings rookie Colby Jones by Boston Celtics forward Svi Mykhailiuk in the final seconds of the match.

The match turned out to be a feisty encounter where the Celtics came out on top with just a one-point margin with a score of 101-100 at the TD Garden in Boston on Saturday.

During the final moments of the match, the Kings were desperate to overturn the one-point deficit but they failed to convert the counterattack, largely because of Mykhailiuk who hit Jones in the face as he was trying to attempt a put-back.

According to the media report, the NBA admitted in its last two minutes that the referee missed the foul: “Comment: Mykhailiuk (BOS) follows through and initiates illegal contact with Jones' (SAC) face after he tips the ball,” the report stated.

Kings coach Mike Brown was clearly frustrated with the referees failing to pick the incident which turned out to be a costly one for the losing side.

"I don't know how you miss that one, but we have to move on and get ready for Brooklyn," he said after the match. “Fox got a great look, Keegan had a good look on the follow-up and then Colby gets smacked right in the face with 1.7 [seconds] to go.

"And you're yelling, 'Foul, foul,' and they say nobody got hit -- it was just physical, clean basketball. And that's tough to swallow when you see a guy get smacked like that in the face. That's tough.

“I don't know. Maybe we didn't deserve to win. I'm not sure. We for sure wanted to win. You just got to call the game how it is. I don't know how you miss that one. But we've got to move on and get ready for Brooklyn.”