The play began a wild final sequence in the Thunder’s 98-97 victory over San Antonio on Monday in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.
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“Waiters foul on Ginobili was the worst missed call in playoff history”, Hall of Famer Magic Johnson wrote on Twitter after the game. See for yourself below.
Lead referee Ken Mauer acknowledged the missed offensive foul by Waiters after the game.
National Basketball Association referees admitted Tuesday that the officials on the floor missed a foul call late in a Western Conference playoff game on an inbounds play that they had never seen before Monday night. Next, When Waiters finally got the ball in bounces (after holding onto the ball for longer than 5 seconds) Thunder small forward Kevin Durant went up to catch it, and got absolutely abused. “It’s a play we have never seen before, ever, but we feel we should have had an offensive foul on Waiters”. Toronto got the ball back after a Miami turnover on the inbounds play, but Wade stripped the ball from DeRozan and sealed it with a three-point play.
Heat center Hassan Whiteside putting the clamps on Toronto’s Jonas Valanciunas during the second half of Game 1.
It stands to reason that the rest of San Antonio’s roster will pick it up moving forward in this series. We’re not gonna be able to change it. Nobody’s gonna change it. It’s 1-1. It appeared that Waiters may have also come close to committing a five-second violation. “But it’s always been like that for the 18 years that I played they let players decide the game”.
Mills said he had a “good look” at the 3-pointer, even with Steven Adams running at him, and that exhausted legs did not contribute to the shot being short. “But we’re fine with one guy just beating us”.
From San Antonio’s point of view, the most obvious positive takeaway would be that LaMarcus Aldridge can’t stop, and won’t stop.
In fact, Popovich said he felt like his team lost the game on three separate occasions. If they want to continue to get out of their offense and throw the ball down there to him, we’re fine with that.
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Game Three between the Thunder and the Spurs is scheduled on May 7 at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Oakland.
