Anything goes
Officiating review reveals five missed calls during final 13.5 seconds of Spurs-Thunder game, four on one play
SAN ANTONIO — If he had to do it over again, Danny Green might have taken a breath. Manu Ginobili might have taken the shot.
Patty Mills might have pump-faked, or passed the ball elsewhere. Gregg Popovich might have used his last timeout.
The was ample regret to go around for San Antonio after the final flawed 13.5 seconds of Monday’s 98-97 loss to Oklahoma City in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.
“Everything happened so quickly,” Mills said. “We just tried to get a hold of the ball and make something happen.”
The Spurs can stop beating themselves over their late-game mistakes. According to an NBA officiat-
ing review Tuesday, they never should have had the chance to make them in the first place.
The league ruled the referee crew of Ken Mauer, Marc Davis and Sean Corbin missed an astounding five calls in the final 13.5 seconds — including four on one play.
Even before the officiating report was released, Popovich wondered what difference any of it would make with the series tied heading into Game 3 on Friday in OKC.
“The game’s over,” Popovich said.
Two of the officiating blunders, the NBA said, favored the Spurs. Three favored the Thunder.
Had officials nailed the first call they missed — Ginobili crossing the sideline to defend Dion Waiters’ now-infamous inbound pass — it would have resulted in a delay of game that might have nullified all the craziness to come.
As it stood, Davis also missed what immediately came next: Waiters leaning across the sideline and elbowing Ginobili in the chest to back him up.
In a statement to a pool reporter after the game, Mauer said the crew had never before witnessed a play like that. Neither had Ginobili.
“I don’t know what
should have been called, or if it should have been called anything,” Ginobili said. “It’s got to be something.”
The league agreed, say-
ing Waiters should have been whistled for a turnover .
While Ginobili and Waiters were playing “any
rule you can break I can break better,” Mills had a hold of OKC’s Steven Adams and Kawhi Leonard had a hold of OKC’s Russell Westbrook.
Both were fouls that should have been called on the Spurs but weren’t, the league said.
Absent of any whistle, the Spurs got what they wanted. Green stole Waiters’ eventual inbound pass, beating Kevin Durant to the ball, and ignited a frantic fast break.
“We had the ball,” Ginobili said. “We had a great shot.”
If Green were allowed a do-over, he would have paused a beat after scooping up the steal to dump the ball to Ginobili.
Instead, Green lofted the ball ahead to Mills, a pass delayed by the heads-up defense of Adams.
That slowed Mills just enough to allow Adams to catch up and thwart the Spurs’ initial break.
“If I had taken a second to just breathe … ,” Green said. “I had Manu on my right side, but I didn’t see him.”
Mills shipped the ball to Ginobili, who might have had a brief look at a floater. He, too, was discouraged by Adams, whose hustle might have single-handedly saved the sequence for OKC.
Ginobili dished an overhead pass to Mills in the corner. There were still five seconds left, but Mills didn’t know it.
“I had no idea what was on the clock,” Mills said. “A lot of stuff happened in a short seven seconds or whatever we had.”
It is at this point Popovich might have called a timeout to reset things. Instead, Mills lifted a desperation 3-pointer over the omnipresent Adams that hit nothing.
Adams went hurtling into the front row, where he briefly entangled with a female fan who grabbed his arm.
“I had my legs under (me) and let it go,” said Mills. “I just missed the shot.”
Unfortunately for the beleaguered officiating crew, the game was not over.
LaMarcus Aldridge corralled the offensive rebound, with Serge Ibaka clearly pulling on his jersey.
Ibaka had not released his grip even as Aldridge missed the game-winning putback attempt with 2.6 seconds to go.
It was the final blown call on a disastrous night for the men on the whistles.
“I thought he had a good chunk of my jersey,” said Aldridge, who scored 41 points. “I thought there were some things happening that maybe shouldn’t have happened.”
The NBA concurred.