Game two of the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder matchup in their 2016 NBA playoffs Western Conference semi-finals series was a great game, for about 46 minutes.
It was a close contest all night, a game eventually won by the Thunder but not without controversy. It was announced last night after the game that the referees should have called a foul on Dion Waiters as he inbounded the ball and elbowed Manu Ginobili. Today, new information was released by the NBA’s official L2M report which states that play shouldn’t have even happened. Let’s break down that wild 13.5 seconds, according to the NBA’s report.
(For reference, CC = Correct Call, IC = Incorrect Call, CNC = Correct Non-Call, INC = Incorrect Non-Call)
In total, there were eight calls missed in the final two minutes of this game. Some good calls were made, like Serge Ibaka fouling LaMarcus Aldridge on a late three-point play but in this case, the good does not outweigh the bad. Now, a few questions arise coming out of this scenario. Will the referees in the series, and the NBA playoffs overall, call games a lot tighter down the stretch? Will this command replay reviews even if the game is over? And what will happen in game three of this series?
