Spurs lose on a terrible no foul call

a blog by Big Red

Last night, The San Antonio Spurs lost to the Thunder 98-97 due to a foul that was not called on the last play of the game. 

On the last play of the game, The Oklahoma City Thunder were inbounding the ball with 13.5 seconds left on the clock. Dion Waiters was inbounding the ball for the Thunder, and right before a 5 second call occurred, Waiters reaches out and pushes Ginobili back and then throws the ball in bounds. While one can argue that the Spurs got the ball, they also lost a couple seconds off the clock and were forced to take a shot without setting up any offense. If the foul was called, they would have been able to in bound the ball and set up a play before time expired. So without further ado, here is the highlight of the play. 

Obviously, people will argue that it could be Manu Ginobili's fault that the Spurs did not get the call because he is known as a notorious flopper. However, never in my life have I seen a player blatantly reach out and push a defender while trying to inbound a ball. Waiters would have been better off just throwing the ball at Manu's nuts than trying something this obvious. I just can't believe this went un called. 

Obviously, Popovich and the rest of his team were absolutely pissed off, and they have every right to be. This was such a blatant foul, these refs deserve to be fined. I also think a rule should be put in place that allows the NBA review center to review the play within two minutes of the game ending, and reverse game changing calls. While it is unfair to Thunder, we have seen this happen in sports, including a National Championship football game between Ohio and Miami in 2002. Ever since Joey Crawford retired, NBA refs have been making SHIT calls. The refs need to get their shit together, and fast. 

The Spurs crawled back into this game with a late run in the 4th quarter. All momentum was in their favor, and I am so confident that they would have won this game if this call was made. While I know that is a bold statement, you have to understand how good the Spurs are and remember that they have the best coach in the league. Here are the full game highlights in case any of you guys missed this one.