The ending to Monday’s encounter between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs was wild and created one of the biggest Twitter storms—and rounds of officiating bashing—in recent memory.
For those unfamiliar, Kevin Durant and the Thunder got stomped in Game 1, 124-92. Oklahoma City took Monday’s contest, though, 98-97 after an odd non-call went down when anyone and everyone could plainly see Dion Waiters elbow Manu Ginobili on an inbounds play with the game on the line.
Sports Illustrated‘s Kenny Ducey provided the angle:
Another angle of Dion Waiters pushing Manu Ginobili out of the way with his elbow pic.twitter.com/s5s85GFojF
— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) May 3, 2016
So it began.
Charles Barkley led the way, per James Herbert of CBS Sports:
“i’ve been in the nba for 30 years, i’ve never seen that” – charles barkley on something dion waiters did
yessss
— James Herbert (@outsidethenba) May 3, 2016
Magic Johnson echoed these sentiments by labeling the mishap historical:
Waiters foul on Ginobili was the worst missed call in playoff history.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 3, 2016
Mark Cuban explained the thought process of an owner having to suffer through such an event:
If that happened to us on a throw in we would already have the protest written. Misapplication of throw In rule. If only to make a point
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) May 3, 2016
Players reacted about as anyone can expect:
Just embarrassing!
— Jared Dudley (@JaredDudley619) May 3, 2016
NBA has to do a better job of blown calls through regular season & playoffs. Refs should be fined for missed calls like players for techs
— C.J. Watson (@Quietstorm_32) May 2, 2016
The memes, of course, also went wild.
Crying Jordan led the way, as always:
@MagicJohnson pic.twitter.com/77Gb6jOKRc
— —– Kev © —– (@MrMetKevC) May 3, 2016
Perhaps most notable, the referees even wound up admitting a call should have been made.
“On the floor, we did not see a foul on the play,” lead referee Ken Mauer said, according to ESPN.com’s Michael C. Wright. “However, upon review we realize and we agree we should have had an offensive foul on the play. It’s a play we’ve never seen before, ever. We should have had an offensive foul on the play.”
As for Waiters, he looked at social media after the game and provided his own take:
Dion Waiters sitting at his locker, scrolling through his phone postgame: “He stepped on the line anyway”
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 3, 2016
Still, San Antonio isn’t a team to make excuses and the team missed several opportunities to win the game late, anyway.
Now all tied up, fans might want to have their social-media apps at the ready for a superb series that just got an infusion of crazy.