In last night’s good ol’ fashion OT shootout between the Utah Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Deron Williams and Kevin Durant put on a show. The Jazz ended up getting the ‘W’ though with a 140-139 final score. But that wasn’t without controversy in the closing seconds. With 1.1 seconds left in the game, the Thunder had the possession with a chance to win the game. They set up an inbounds play and got the ball to their star Durant to make or break the game for them. Kevin Durant, who has seemingly endless range, rose up from three with a decent look…..until Jazz defender C.J. Miles came in out of nowhere and hit Durant on the forearm.
Three shot foul right?
Wrong, the refs swallowed their whistles, no call.
From the video you can see that Kevin Durant was clearly hit on the forearm altering his shot to the point it didn’t even make it half way to the hoop. Keeping in mind that NBA referees don’t have the luxury of instant replay when making these game changing calls as the play unfolds live. However, on this play Kevin Durant was clearly the focal point for the Thunder, the refs knew it in advance, and this play took place at the top of the arch with no visual obstructions for the refs (like they sometimes have to deal with on slashing plays to the hoop through a crowd of arms and legs from both teams). Kevin Durant was livid after the no-call.
And now that the NBA had a chance to review the play, and most likely an appeal from the Thunder, they tend to agree….
Joel Litvin, NBA President of League and Basketball Operations today issued this statement:
“On the final play of last night’s Oklahoma City-Utah game, the officials missed a foul committed by the Jazz’s C.J. Miles on the Thunder’s Kevin Durant during a three-point shot attempt.”
So what does this mean? Will the NBA replay the closing seconds? No.
Will they allow Durant to come in and shoot three free throws for the win? No.
So why issue the statement that only seems to call out the referees publicly for their mistakes. They are only human right? And the statement certainly can’t help their dealings with appeals and complaints from Kevin Durant and the OKC Thunder.
Maybe at the end of the day, they just felt they should be holding the referees accountable, and if they couldn’t give Durant the win at least they could give him the validation he deserves by admitting he was ‘wronged’ and cheated out of a win.
What do you think about the unprecedented move by the NBA to admit the mistake?
