The Refs Stole Game 5 From the Spurs. The Thunder Are Going to the Conference Finals Anyway.
The Thunder beat the Spurs 127-114 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Monday night. They now lead the series 3-2 and have a chance to close it out in San Antonio on Thursday.
And the officiating crew has spent the last 36 hours getting absolutely flamed for it.
Cason Wallace got away with what looked like a clear goaltend in the final minute of the third quarter. Two points the Spurs never got back. Victor Wembanyama dribbled the ball off Chet Holmgren’s foot. Refs called it Thunder ball. Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson tried to challenge. The challenge was refused. Johnson got a technical for arguing.
Rookie Dylan Harper caught an elbow from Jared McCain. Harper got whistled for the foul. Less than a minute later, the Spurs got hosed on an out-of-bounds call after Isaiah Hartenstein batted the ball. The NBC crew watching the replay said the ball should have gone to San Antonio.
That is four calls in one game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shot 17 free throws. Wembanyama shot eight. Stephon Castle, who was excellent for the Spurs, summed it up after the game. “We don’t get that same luxury.”
The Crew Is Going to Have a Long Week
Tony Brothers, James Capers, and Sean Wright worked Game 5. That is a veteran crew with hundreds of playoff games between them. They have all blown calls before. Brothers in particular has been a lightning rod for years.
The NBA office reviewed the calls Tuesday. By midday, the league had quietly admitted three of the four calls were missed. That admission usually leads to one of two outcomes. Brothers either does not work Game 6 or 7, or the league lets it slide because no one wants the headline.
Former NBA players have been louder than usual. Charles Barkley said on TNT that the officiating in this series has been “embarrassing.” Kendrick Perkins agreed. Even Stephen A. Smith, who never sides with the Spurs, conceded that San Antonio got jobbed in Game 5.
Why It Probably Does Not Matter
The Thunder are the better team. The free throw disparity is real, but so is the talent gap. SGA is the best player in the world right now. He has been the best player in this series. Chet Holmgren has been the best big man in the playoffs. The Thunder bench has been deeper.
San Antonio has Wembanyama and a bunch of guys playing above their pay grade. That has been enough to make this series competitive. It probably is not enough to win four games.
Game 6 is in San Antonio on Thursday. The Spurs will get a fairer whistle. They will also probably need a 35-point Wembanyama game and some questionable shooting from OKC to extend the series. If they get both, Game 7 in Oklahoma City becomes one of the great basketball nights of the year.
The Verdict
The refs blew Game 5. The Thunder still won by 13. Those are both true at the same time. San Antonio fans have every right to be angry. The bigger reality is that this team is one Wemby injury or one bad Brunson shot away from being out of the conversation entirely.
The series probably ends Thursday. If it does not, blame the refs all you want. The team that finishes is the team that closes.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
