Australian Josh Giddey has found himself at the centre of a dramatic finish to Oklahoma City’s 141-139 defeat to Golden State in the NBA’s In-Season Tournament on Saturday.
The game, which will count toward the regular-season standings, went down to the wire as the Thunder and Warriors traded buckets in a high-scoring affair.
Lu Dort, who starred for OKC with 29 points, looked to have at least put the Thunder in a position to force overtime when he made one of two late free throws to tie the game at 139-139.
At that point there were only 16 seconds on the clock, with Golden State calling a timeout before immediately getting the ball into Steph Curry’s hands when play resumed.
Curry drove towards the basket for the layup and looked to have put the Warriors ahead, only for officials to rule basket interference on Draymond Green.
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That play, however, was reviewed and later overturned. As a result, the Thunder had just 0.2 seconds on the clock for a hail mary full-court effort that came up short, sealing the controversial win for the Warriors.
Former NBA player Michael Cage was furious while commentating on the Oklahoma City feed of the game, in disbelief as to how officials came to make that call.
“How do you know that when he punched the rim? He hit the rim with his hand. He hurt his hand on the rim. How do you know that?” he said.
“If you hit the rim, it doesn’t matter. In this case, he actually hit it with force. I’ve been a part of this league for 35 years – 15 as a player, 20 as a broadcaster, I have never seen that call overturned when a player clearly hits the rim with force and it’s not deemed a goaltend. My goodness.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen,” added fellow commentator Chris Fischer.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that call… a shocking ruling from the officials. A ruling that had never been seen before.”
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The Golden State commentary team did not see the call the same way, suggesting Giddey had made contact with the net first and that the decision to overturn the ruling was correct.
Green though appeared to pushed Giddey’s arm towards the net in the first place, further adding to the controversy.
Regardless, officials did not even mention Giddey’s actions when explaining why the call had been overturned at the time and Thunder coach Mark Daigneault backed that up post-game.
“They said he touched the rim but not to the extent that it impacted the play,” Daigneault said of the explanation he was given.
Giddey fronted the media alongside Thunder teammate Chet Holmgren and according to The Athletic’s Andrew Schlecht the Australian also said he was not told that his actions were responsible for the decision being reversed.
A classy Giddey also maintained it should not have come down to that final play for the Thunder, insisting they could have better taken their opportunities earlier in the game.
That also extended to a personal assessment of his own game, critical of the fact he left it until late to really leave a big impression after scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter.
That did not stop Holmgren from singling Giddey out for his late heroics though, describing the 21-year-old’s fourth quarter as “huge” in the context of the game.
“I don’t want that to go under the bus… I want that to get attention. This is a tough dude. I don’t know what neighborhood from Australia he’s from but he’s tough.”
The Thunder did well to push the highly-fancied Warriors all the way on Saturday given they were without star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (knee).
Giddey stepped up late while Chet Holmgren continues to impress in his rookie NBA campaign, scoring 24 points to go with eight rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block.
Curry, meanwhile, led the way for the Warriors with 30 points after shooting a team-high five 3-pointers.
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