2019 Late-Game Foul (L2M Finding)

On Nov. 9, 2019 the Denver Nuggets hosted the Philadelphia 76ers at Ball Arena in a game decided in the final second. A late possession featured a physical contest between center Nikola Jokic and center Joel Embiid. The NBA’s Officiating Last Two Minute (L2M) report reviewed that sequence and concluded "Jokic placed his hand on the opposite side of Embiid’s hip," and that "a personal foul should have been called on Jokic instead of an offensive foul on Embiid" [1]. That ruling contradicts the on-court call that ended the game and was captured in postgame reporting by The Philadelphia Inquirer, which summarized the L2M finding and its impact on the final outcome [1]. Immediate reactions after the L2M release were journalistic and analytical rather than personal statements from either player: beat reporters and league-watchers used the report as primary documentation that a decisive play had been misclassified by officials. The item entered later narratives comparing Jokic and Embiid because it supplied a verifiable instance where physical contact between the two was judged by league review to have been handled incorrectly on the floor. The play and the L2M language—specific mention of Jokic's hand placement on Embiid's hip—became a recurrent reference point in subsequent media accounts about contested physicality in their matchups [1].

The L2M finding matters because it is a primary-source league adjudication that documents contested physical contact between Jokic and Embiid in a game-deciding moment. That concrete, dated determination (Nov. 9, 2019) supplied analysts and fans with evidence to argue the matchup included more than routine contact; it anchored later references to on-court friction and was repeatedly cited when the two centers became direct comparators in MVP-era debates [1]. The report did not record either player's subjective intent, but it did provide a factual basis for claims that specific physical plays between the pair were consequential.

After the L2M release, the finding circulated among beat writers and in later recaps of the Jokic–Embiid storyline as an early documented instance of contested contact. There was no public suspension or fine tied to the L2M language; rather, the incident lived on in media timelines and was used as corroborating evidence when fans and journalists catalogued moments of rough play between the centers [1]. Neither Jokic nor Embiid issued a public statement in the immediate aftermath disputing the report; instead, the finding resurfaced in future reporting as context for the competitive narrative surrounding their matchups and award debates.