1/27/14 Hawks at Thunder

[Rip2137]

I don't think they make that call on anyone with 30 seconds left in a tie ballgame. Even more infuriating was that on the VERY NEXT POSSESSION, Durant does EXACTLY what Millsap did and no call. THEN he did it AGAIN only he changed pivot feet TWICE before dribbling and no call. I don't have a problem with them not calling pointless travels, but I DO have a problem with it when you only call it on one team. With 30 seconds left. In a tie ball game.

[diesel50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-pA46BYoyo

Full highlights, I just dont see what you are talking about. Durant got the ball well outside the 3point line, they wont call a shove off to get the ball that far out with that little time. The real problem was his uncontested drive to the basket for a layup.

Try This CLip... around 1:22 start watching...

http://www.nba.com/games/20140127/ATLOKC/gameinfo.html?ls=slt

[PandaKidd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-pA46BYoyo

Full highlights, I just dont see what you are talking about. Durant got the ball well outside the 3point line, they wont call a shove off to get the ball that far out with that little time. The real problem was his uncontested drive to the basket for a layup.

Try This CLip... around 1:22 start watching...

http://www.nba.com/games/20140127/ATLOKC/gameinfo.html?ls=slt

he was at the half court line, they arent going to call that , not on KD and it really didnt affect the play at all. he caught the ball and still made his move. The push off didnt get him open really.

[diesel50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-pA46BYoyo

Full highlights, I just dont see what you are talking about. Durant got the ball well outside the 3point line, they wont call a shove off to get the ball that far out with that little time. The real problem was his uncontested drive to the basket for a layup.

Try This CLip... around 1:22 start watching...

http://www.nba.com/games/20140127/ATLOKC/gameinfo.html?ls=slt

he was at the half court line, they arent going to call that , not on KD and it really didnt affect the play at all. he caught the ball and still made his move. The push off didnt get him open really.

I understand that you are seeing what you want to see Kidd. However, look at that blatant push off (a Blantant offensive foul) that gives him separation to get open... Then Look at the second push off with the arm on the shot. Again, you can choose to see what you want to... but for now, it's staring you right in the face. They give KD all kinds of preferential treatment. If the shoe was on the other foot and it was DMC who pushed off with two hands to get open, we would have been walking the other way so that KD could shoot two shots on the offensive foul.

[parson]

Curious opinion.

Short of it: at 7:05, Mike Scott shot 2 FTs. We got absolutely no calls the rest of the game - and even got a ticky-tack travel call against Millsap. If we had gotten ONE CALL in the last 7 minutes of the game (and Millsap should have gotten 3 "and ones" in that period), we would have won.

[ATL Boy]

Kevin Durant be like

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbL5U3MUzWA[/youtube]

[Jamaaliver]

Sorry, guys. In a 48 minute game I just can't accept that a single play and non-call cost us the victory.

We allowed 32 points in the final quarter and the Thunder went on like a 12-4 run to close out the game. Our offense stumbled down the stretch as no one could get open and our young PG was unable to make a play on his own. Our defense didn't exactly get it done in the 4th didn't help either. (Though many of our offensive failures led DIRECTLY to fast break points for the opposition.

Our team, though well coached, is not very talented with Teague and Horford out injured.

At some point we have to admit, the guys out on the floor just couldn't get it done in crunch time.

We seriously need a wing (SG or SF) capable of creating some offense down the stretch. Able to get in the lane and dish to an open player or get to the FT line. A team full of set shooters ain't gonna cut it night after night.

Also, who was Ibaka guarding in crunch time. Seemed like he was roaming for the entire last 3 minutes. Just following the ball (and Mack) and disrupting everything he tried to do.

[Jamaaliver]

Hell, in addition to a swingman with handles, a big man with a strong post game would have been invaluable last night. Ibaka is a GREAT shotblocker. But he can be exploited in the post.

Adding Brand to the lineup might have helped, though he was in the midst of a terrible game himself.

[Rip2137]

Its basketball. Teams make runs. That is part of the game that you can prepare for.

What you cannot prepare for is a bad call to get them in the penalty, a bad call to give them the three point play, a no call to get Durant open to tie the game, a ridiculous traveling call to give them back the ball(then ignoring the same call on the shot to put them up, and the game winner) a no call on Milsaps drive to tie the game....

that's a lot in like 3 minutes dude. You can't prepare for bad officiating. You can't control it. You can control composure and what to do when teams get on runs. This team certainly isn't stacked enough to withstand bad officiating. That simply doesn't help.

I agree with what you said and the tweaks that need to be made to this roster, and no one play didn't get them back in the game, but a series of no calls/bad calls certainly helped close it out. We lost by two. So with all that you listed, we STILL should have won the game if not for some home cooking at the end.

[Jamaaliver]

Rip, seems like you're making excuses for everything that occurred. We let a double digit lead slip away. Some of that is on the officials, some of that is on us.

Durant gets those calls every single game. All game long. But we held the lead for 46 minutes and collapsed at the end.

46 minutes of nearly flawless basketball, undone by 3 minutes of poor play.

Our starting lineup included Shelvin Mack, Demarre Carroll and Gustavo Ayon, yet we managed to come out with a lead for three quarters.

But with the game in jeopardy we leaned (unfairly) on our young, inexperienced backup PG. No one else could get open and we saw three possessions in that last 3 minutes that resulted in block shot, block shot, terrible baseline turnover. Each of those possessions led to fast break opportunities for OKC.

We played flawless offense all game. Except when we needed it most.

HINT: anytime a close game against a top 5 player occurs, they will get the benefit of the doubt call. So don't let a double digit lead evaporate in the last 5 minutes against them.

[Jamaaliver]

Two coaching mistakes I thought occurred at the end of the game by Bud:

1. Millsap's last made basket occurred too quickly. It left 22+ seconds on the clock for OKC to work with. I think I read Millsap scored in less than 3 seconds. How about we hold the ball and give it back with less than 3 secs left on the clock.

2. We have to let someone else beat us other than Durant. I lose track of what the defensive rules are, but KD has to be doubled BEFORE he gets the ball. Deny it to him and make someone else beat us.

Hell, foul KD with 20 seconds left, that way WE get the last shot. On the road, I never let the home team and their best player get the last shot. Because of the likelihood of the referees interfering.

[Rip2137]

Again, I think you are missing my biggest point. I don't care about the majority of things that happened, I was just pointing out that you said one play didn't lose the game. I pointed out a bunch of plays that were definitely aiding a more talented team down the stretch that didn't help.

The only thing that really annoyed me last night was the travel call on Millsap which was just freaking HUGE. To suddenly care about a pivot foot moving, then NOT caring on the NEXT PLAY or the ones after that pisses me off. It should have been a no call so we get a real ending to the game, not the refs playing that large a part in it.

Yes there were plenty of mistakes...the largest being we didn't call a timeout and discuss what to do when the Thunder started switching everything and it left us with Mack dribbling looking for open people for 18 seconds.

I disagree that you hold the ball when you are down. I never believe in that. Get the game tied when you can get it tied, but that's just a opinion on strategy.

Honestly, when was the last time you have seen a tie game with less than a minute left and they call a non egregious travel call like they did? Durant took FIVE steps before he dribbled the ball on the last shot...and I have no problem with that because it didn't matter in the realm of the game. For a ref to suddenly make that call disgusted me.

[diesel50]

Sorry, guys. In a 48 minute game I just can't accept that a single play and non-call cost us the victory.

Where's the integrity of the game from your perspective. The refs keep the team in the game and you know what they just might win it. Everybody gets what they wants. The League gets to keep it's preferred team on top. The League gets an exciting game. The Thunder gets a hard fought win. And coach gets to say... we played a very good game but we just couldn't pull it out in the end.

As a fan of the game, you should want to see it called fairly. It's called integrity. Right now, this game is slanted towards the league's favorites. Years ago, when Stern said " I have to protect my stars"... maybe he wasn't just talking about from injury. Maybe he was also talking about from defeats during a hot streak.

[diesel50]

Two coaching mistakes I thought occurred at the end of the game by Bud:

1. Millsap's last made basket occurred too quickly. It left 22+ seconds on the clock for OKC to work with. I think I read Millsap scored in less than 3 seconds. How about we hold the ball and give it back with less than 3 secs left on the clock.

2. We have to let someone else beat us other than Durant. I lose track of what the defensive rules are, but KD has to be doubled BEFORE he gets the ball. Deny it to him and make someone else beat us.

Hell, foul KD with 20 seconds left, that way WE get the last shot. On the road, I never let the home team and their best player get the last shot. Because of the likelihood of the referees interfering.

This is laughable.

1. You get the points, when you can get the points. Millsap is not going to get that shot anytime he wants it.

2. You foul KD with 20 seconds left and you will see the longest continuation in History. Then we're all here talking about, why did he foul KD, while he was tying his shoes before he planned to shoot that three. PandaKidd would say " even though he was still tying his shoe when he was fouled, you can clearly see he's in the midst of a shooting motion starting from the ground."