The next day and it’s still hard to understand just what the heck happened in the final play of Game 2 between the Spurs and Thunder. The referees have admitted that they missed an offensive foul call against Dion Waiters but there wasway more craziness than just the missed shove.
Crew chief Ken Mauer said after the game that part of the reason Waiters’ push wasn’t called was because it was a play that had never been seen before.
Now the league has released their official report from the final two minutes of the game, and it is completely wild. The league admitted there were five total incorrect no calls on the last play alone. Let’s list them all out.
- Delay of Game Violation: Ginobili steps on the line while defending the inbounds play.
- Offensive Foul: Waiters crosses the OOB (out of bounds) plane during the inbound and makes contact with Ginobili that affects his ability to defend.
- Personal Foul: Mills grabs and holds Adams affecting his FOM (freedom of movement) during the inbounds play.
- Personal Foul: Leonard grabs Westbrook’s jersey in the backcourt during the inbound.
- Shooting Foul: RHH (right hand held) shows that Ibaka grabs and holds Aldridge’s jersey and affects his shot attempt.
So that’s two non-fouls calls against the Spurs, two against the Thunder, and a missed violation against San Antonio, all in thirteen seconds of play. Got it. Left out of the report was Steven Adams having his arm held by a court-side Spurs fan during the final possession which certainly could have been a technical if it was seen.
While there were an insane number of things that were missed, the league confirmed that the officials were correct not calling Waiters on his jump inbounds, which is actually allowed if he doesn’t leave his spot. Also, the NBA ruled that the contact between Danny Green and Kevin Durant on the pass was incidental and the refs were correct to not call it.
Waiters’ shove will be the play most remembered from this game, and it will certainly be entrenched in the minds of Spurs fans forever if they don’t find a way to win the series. At the end of the day though, it is essentially a wash as both teams had multiple violations, even if none of them were nearly as egregious as the push-off.
