The OKC Refs Crossed The Line...

Описание: Coming out of a defensive masterclass in game 4, Stephon Castle was guarding SGA even before he stepped on the court.
And he continued hounding him at the start of this one as well.
On the other end, after scoring just 22 points over the last 3 games on a horrific 28% shooting from the field, Julian Champagnie exploded right off the gates in game 5.
In a totally unexpected chain of events, Champagnie scored 13 of his 22 points in a row for San Antonio. And he did that in less than 4 minutes of action on a sizzling hot 72% efficiency, putting his team up by 5 points. I’ve been waiting for him to heat up ever since game 1.
We can say the same thing about Chet Holmgren as well, who scored a rare bucket over Wemby here but got bumped on his way back to the bench.
And Victor responded immediately on the other side…
We had a tight game after one, but then Alex Caruso stepped in and really made a difference in the 2nd quarter.
With multiple veteran plays on both ends of the court, Caruso extends the lead to double digits.
But when he sat down for a breather and SGA came back in, the Spurs continued their defensive clinic.
My goodness! Stephon Castle stopped the MVP dead in his tracks. At least till that point in the game, holding him to only 1 of 6 from the field while forcing away 4 turnovers. And after getting brutally rejected by Wemby on one end, Holmgren got bullied by Keldon Johnson on the other.
GEEZ! Keldon is a pitbull! He literally destroyed the much taller Chet like a little kid.
And I gotta show you this egregious example of OKC basketball. Jarred McCain elbows Harper which goes unpunished only to throw himself to the ground a few seconds later and get the call for himself. This is absurd.
On the contrary, this was a legit ankle breaker.
SGA made the Alien touch earth on that one. And he got the friendly bounce to drop.
It seems like this was the play that finally got him going because…
Shai got busy near the end of the half, scoring 12 points in 6 minutes to put OKC up by 13.
Although, a good chunk of his points came from the free throw line on soft fouls far, far away from the basket…
Regardless, up by 11 points at the start of the 3rd, the Thunder used the momentum to build a convincing lead.
You heard the commentator, when they get the snowball rolling it quickly becomes an avalanche. Down by 20 on the road the Spurs didn’t plan on quitting, but instead they stood up, shook off the dust and returned the blow.
Johnson drills the 3 to cut the deficit to 12 points, igniting a mini-barage of long-range bombs.
After being scoreless in the 1st half, Devin Vassell brings his team to an 8 point deficit with his 1st bucket of the night. This leads us to the controversial ending of the 3rd period, when the refs took over the game with a series of bad calls against the Spurs.
Cason Wallace blatantly strips the ball out of the rim on what was a clear goaltend. So instead of 2 points for San Antonio, they ended up with a foul by Kornet and 2 free throws for Williams.
Then, on the very next possession, Wemby penetrates inside and the ball hits Holmgren’s foot before going out of bounds. But the refs saw something else…
Even after their mini counseling, they stuck with the initial decision.
But not only that… ‘Cuz suddenly things took a wild turn…
What is going on!?? Mitch Johnson wanted a challenge, as we see him waving in the ref’s face here. But the guy puts him on snooze and simply walks past him. And on top of that, they awarded SGA with two free throws for yet another flop and hit coach Johnson with a tech for spilling his nerves. Now that’s the refs playing triple threat right there. So here we are watching Shai bump the lead up to 13 points… When in fact, it should’ve been an 8 point game with a possession for the Spurs. This is a highway robbery!
And the product of that?
Trying to compensate for what they messed up, the refs call a foul on this clean block by Dort.
Once you get into a whirlwind like this, you instantly lose control of the game. (repriza + faci)
With all of that being said, the Thunder led by 10 points at the start of the 4th, when the Spurs turned to Wemby hoping he could bail them out. The only thing is…
Hartenstein did a terrific job defending Victor last night, keeping him to 20 points on a miserable
4 of 15 shooting. On the other end, Shai was struggling just as he was, but with one big difference... He had a few teammates who were in the mood for hunting!
Jarred McCain delivers the killshot with little under 4 minutes to play in the final period.
He was huge in his first start for OKC, scoring 18 of his 20 points in the 2nd half.
SGA did score 32 himself, but on very low efficiency and needing 17 free throws to do so…
Trailing by 14 with little time left in the game, the Spurs raised the white flag, but watch Wemby here saying something to Plumlee and Biyombo in their ears. What could’ve possibly been?
Ooohh now we know…