It appeared as if there were multiple, clearly missed calls throughout the San Antonio Spurs’ loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.
Now, the Spurs are sitting on the brink of elimination in the Western Conference finals.
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The Spurs’ attempt at a comeback fell short in Game 5 of the series. The Thunder, after surging ahead by 20 points early in the third, cruised to a 127-114 win to take a 3-2 lead in the series.
They are now just a single win away from a return trip to the NBA Finals, where the New York Knicks are waiting after their sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference. The Spurs are just 1-13 all time when trailing 3-2 in a best-of-seven series.
But there were two very notable instances in the second half in which it appeared as if the officials either missed or made an erroneous call.
Late in the third quarter, Luke Kornet went to drop in a put-back bucket at the rim. But Thunder guard Cason Wallace managed to get up and swipe the ball off the rim successfully to stop what looked like an easy two points for the Spurs. That sent play the other way, though Kornet immediately tried to call for a review — as it looked like Wallace made contact with the ball once it was already over the basket, which is a clear goaltend. But the goaltending call wasn’t granted.
Then a few possessions later, Victor Wembanyama lost control of the ball as he was driving to the rim, and the ball ended up going out of bounds off the foot of Thunder big man Chet Holmgren. But the officials opted to award the Thunder the ball instead.
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Johnson tried to call for a review on the sidelines, and very clearly made the gesture to trigger the challenge call. But he was ignored by the officials, and then was hit with a technical foul for erupting on them over it. Even the NBC broadcasting crew was stunned Johnson wasn’t given the challenge.
“They just said they didn’t see me,” Johnson said plainly after the game.
There was also a moment early in the fourth quarter when officials weren’t able to determine who last touched the ball before it went out of bounds, and they simply just opted to call a jump ball instead.
Now to be clear, the two calls wouldn’t have given the Spurs the win here. San Antonio had fallen into a 20-point hole early in the third quarter, and it was struggling offensively. Wembanyama shot just 4-of-15 from the field and missed all five of his 3-point attempts, and both De’Aaron Fox and Devin Vassell were held to single figures.
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But it was just a 10 point game when Johnson was hit with a technical, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander pushed it to 13 points after hitting three straight free throws once it was called. Had the Spurs been awarded the ball and scored on the inbounds play, it would have been a single-digit ballgame.
Regardless, the Spurs will have to be perfect the rest of the way if they’re going to make their first NBA Finals since 2014. That starts with Game 6 on Thursday night at the Frost Bank Center.
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