Something something something, Utah beats OKC 140-139

http://www.nba.com/official/nba_statement_oklahoma_city_utah_game.html#?ls=iref:nbahpt1
This is what NBA Official has to say about the no call...

NEW YORK, April 7, 2010 – Joel Litvin, NBA President, League and Basketball Operations, issued the following statement regarding the final seconds of the Oklahoma City Thunder at Utah Jazz game last night at EnergySolutions Arena:

"On the final play of last night’s Oklahoma City-Utah game, the officials missed a foul committed by the Jazz’s C.J. Miles on the Thunder’s Kevin Durant during a three-point shot attempt.”

NBA.COM :P>NEW YORK, April 7, 2010 – Joel Litvin, NBA President, League and Basketball Operations, issued the following statement regarding the final seconds of the Oklahoma City Thunder at Utah Jazz game last night at EnergySolutions Arena:

"On the final play of last night’s Oklahoma City-Utah game, the officials missed a foul committed by the Jazz’s C.J. Miles on the Thunder’s Kevin Durant during a three-point shot attempt.”

First of all I was at last nights game and it was amazing. I have sat baseline near the opposing teams bench for about fifteen years and I cannot remember a more high class team and coaches. It sucks that a game that great came down to such a controversial call, but it did, and it has before. Let us not forget that when we were in OK, there was a loose ball foul called at the end of the game on Paul Millsap under the basket on our defensive end, it was a top five worst calls in the NBA this year. Jazz fans were irate and with good reason, now the Thunder fans have reason to be upset. J.A. Adande saying that the Thunder are not going to get calls down the stretch and are basically alone because of their small market is bull, the Jazz are in that same boat and have been for years. Now back to the game on the sixth, if you still have a problem with the call because of the playoff implications, there are plenty, look at the KD possession before the great tip he had. He was sent to the line, hit both freebees, the call on CJ Miles was nothing literally nothing but perhaps stare power respect. All in all it appeared that Tony Brothers favored the Jazz where as Eric, and Benny Salvatore favored the Thunder, especially Eric. So, best of luck to the Thunder, my second favorite team in the West.

No one has mentioned the pathetic call in OT that put Durant on the line to get the Thunder within 1, before Jeff Green's clutch go-ahead shot. That was no foul. Shortly before that, CJ Miles got a free and-1, making a circus layup without being touched. Earlier, Deron Williams received complete body contact on his dunk attempt over Ibaka - no foul. My point is, we can argue the impact of non-calls interminably, to no real effect. I seem to remember Mr. Jordan pushing off Bryon Russell at some point. What are you gonna do? It was an unbelievably great game. The Thunder are extremely scary.

Boozer offering a "stare-down" to Ibaka is a total joke...how many times in the last two games has Boozer had his stuff swatted away by Thunder players...and let's not forget his embarrasing rim-stuff of himself in the Ford Center during their last visit. He's starting to get older now, and he's resorting to "church-league" old man tricks, pushing guys when they're in the air (like he did to Jeff Green last night), yelling and grunting for no apparent reason, he can still score, but he is not the same player he was a few short years ago...another reason to hate him...he's from Duke !!

That little incident after the game might cost ($$$$$$$$$$$$) The Thunder more than I'm going to earn this week/months etc. I don't know much about The NBA but it does seem that the refs won't make calls late late in games/overtime. I agree with the above comment that we could have got those points in another way anyway. Anyway it was a hell of a game and everyone got their money's worth.

What the heck was that stare down on Serge anyway? That didn't make much sense cause Serge is not one of those bad boys we know of in the NBA. I guess Carlos was just showing how tough he is (we already know that).
I was thinking last night after the game - hope we don't have a back to back -well surprise?! Hope the team can hold up.

Vince :Some thoughts from Utah…
1. It was a blown call at the end...but, let’s be honest, we’re not in OT without some serious help from the refs during the first 52-plus minutes. The officiating was awfully lopsided, and that’s coming from a giant Thunder homer.
2. The Jazz did 3 things that have really confounded our defense over the past month or so:
a. Run screens constantly. We’re not a good defensive team versus screens (on- or off-ball) and the Jazz opened seemingly every set with some kind of screen action to get our D out of position and create a mismatch.
b. Pick up the pace. Our pace numbers are way up, which is more based on opponent action than our own (neither Westbrook nor Maynor, in particular, are playing noticeably faster; we are running a touch more, but not nearly enough to go from the bottom of the league in pace to the top). I wonder if it’s not a scouting report — if you have 3 more seconds in the frontcourt versus the shell defense, you can make one more pass and turn a contested 19-footer into an open 3. The Jazz had a LOT of open 3 looks tonight.
c. Attack the weakside post. This game was the epitome of what’s happened over the last month. The opponents sets screens or P&R, forces us to adjust, and then forces the weakside help defender – who is usually sloughing off a shooter to help down low — to decide. If he drops to the post, you reverse to an open wing on the perimeter. If he doesn’t — and we didn’t, at all, tonight — you zip a pass across the paint. Green was murdered on this repeatedly tonight, particularly in the first half — Kev, with all due respect, your numbers on him were off, maybe because the TV didn’t quite pick up on it very often. Collison got nailed too, as well, though – we just had too much cheating toward the ball. The point of our defense is supposed to be to create long, contested 2-point jumpers and the Jazz shot very, very few of those.
3. I was impressed with the Jazz crowd and the arena, until I realized that the crowd — while smart and certainly loud — is also spoiled and petulant, and the arena just looks like an over-sized fairground. That said, I did like the old-school nature of it: old-school scoreboard with quick, low-graphic replays, and without the incessant PA announcer and/or 10-second hip-hop clip every damn possession. It was the most exciting basketball game I’ve ever seen live, and one of the most painful endings I can remember in any sport.

This is a great post and is right on.

terrible terrible terrible loss what the crap went on ugh

MartzMimic is right...I saw that as well...wonder about the legs if the game goes to the end tonight...I believe Denver has been off for 2-3 days now...this will be a difficult task, but hopefully one the Thunder can rally behind. As for the "no call," this is precisely the reason NBA-haters can't stand the league...the referees just never call anything consistent...you could name a number of players who would get that call, but why? Any player should get that call, especially since it decided the outcome of the game. I have a number of friends that say the WWE is the only league with worse officiating...and they're probably right!

J.A. Adande from espn:

"The Thunder defense was loose all night, susceptible to everything from Utah's middle screen-and-rolls to Williams' penetration. Williams scored a career-high 42 points and the Jazz posted their highest total in almost 20 years. The Jazz were the fourth consecutive opponent to score at least 100 points against the Thunder, whose tremendous turnaround this season was initially predicated on defense.

Lately they've simply decided to outgun everybody. It might keep working until someone finds a way to stop Durant. Or until the playoffs."

Like I said, I'm not the only one noticing that our defense has recently unraveled and we are not only not a good defensive team anymore, we are actually a REALLY bad defensive team

Royce- this was your fault. You cursed this game by saying you expected us to lose. Please, only positive remarks from now on.

what about that non-call earlier in the 4th? when KD goes in to the lane, and, for the life of me i can't remember which jazz (sucks!) player did the damage, but he's full on grabbing KD's left wrist on the shot.

Being a new day and all, let me lodge another complaint. How fair is it for three out of the four games that Oklahoma City plays Denver to come on the second night of a back-to-back?

I realize back-to-backs are a common and necessary thing, but three games against a division opponent on the second night?

Can we just forget the no-call in overtime? This is a game the Thunder did not deserve to win. Durant's ridiculous stretch after the 3 minute mark in the 4th quarter was easily one of the best clutch performances of the year by anyone. He had a steal, a block, and a save between those threes. Someone needs to find a video of of the last 3 minutes of the 4th quarter...now. Please?

As far as the Mavs filing a protest, back in the days when Cuban was on his tirade against the officiating, he included bad calls that were in Dallas' favor in the tapes he would send to the league.

Great game. Terrible ending.
Learn and grow, boys. Learn and grow.

@Vince
I don't agree that officiating was lopsided for us earlier. There was a series of really questionable offensive fouls called on us where a similar foul wasn't called on Utah right after. Terrible calls throughout, some of which went our way, isn't the same as favoring us.

@tom

agreed, it'll be glorious to watch westbrook and deron williams go at it for years.

I think Utah is the Thunders most likely long term rival. They represent, along with SA the successa small market team can have with a couple of core players. I say Utah, then Dallas as Thunder rivals

Just finished watching the game. What a entertaining event. That aside, ban me if you must, but that no-call was utter bullshit. Shite.

sports should implement some kind of color alarm system...sort of similar to robo refs but where there is contact on any player the point of contact would light up...like a powder or glo in the dark marker / THAT way there wouldn't; be a doubt...refs suck :( but it was the best possible loss for the boys and for us as fans.

on a related note, apparently this isn't tony brothers's first blown game

a quick google of "tony brothers" reveals this on the front page: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/139763-tony-brothers-the-most-incompetent-official-in-the-nba

Some thoughts from Utah...

1. It was a blown call at the end.
..but, let's be honest, we're not in OT without some serious help from the refs during the first 52-plus minutes. The officiating was awfully lopsided, and that's coming from a giant Thunder homer.

2. The Jazz did 3 things that have really confounded our defense over the past month or so:

a. Run screens constantly. We're not a good defensive team versus screens (on- or off-ball) and the Jazz opened seemingly every set with some kind of screen action to get our D out of position and create a mismatch.

b. Pick up the pace. Our pace numbers are way up, which is more based on opponent action than our own (neither Westbrook nor Maynor, in particular, are playing noticeably faster; we are running a touch more, but not nearly enough to go from the bottom of the league in pace to the top). I wonder if it's not a scouting report -- if you have 3 more seconds in the frontcourt versus the shell defense, you can make one more pass and turn a contested 19-footer into an open 3. The Jazz had a LOT of open 3 looks tonight.

c. Attack the weakside post. This game was the epitome of what's happened over the last month. The opponents sets screens or P&R, forces us to adjust, and then forces the weakside help defender - who is usually sloughing off a shooter to help down low -- to decide. If he drops to the post, you reverse to an open wing on the perimeter. If he doesn't -- and we didn't, at all, tonight -- you zip a pass across the paint. Green was murdered on this repeatedly tonight, particularly in the first half -- Kev, with all due respect, your numbers on him were off, maybe because the TV didn't quite pick up on it very often. Collison got nailed too, as well, though - we just had too much cheating toward the ball. The point of our defense is supposed to be to create long, contested 2-point jumpers and the Jazz shot very, very few of those.

3. I was impressed with the Jazz crowd and the arena, until I realized that the crowd -- while smart and certainly loud -- is also spoiled and petulant, and the arena just looks like an over-sized fairground. That said, I did like the old-school nature of it: old-school scoreboard with quick, low-graphic replays, and without the incessant PA announcer and/or 10-second hip-hop clip every damn possession. It was the most exciting basketball game I've ever seen live, and one of the most painful endings I can remember in any sport.

i went to bed around half time (live in europe, it was 4 AM) i almost don't want to watch the highlights on the embedded player :(

if there is such a thing as a "good loss", this is it. the thunder with Durantula at the helm are too smart to not be hurt by this and no doubt they will have learned from it to stoke the playoff fires.

and imagine if we get these idiots in the first round, how that first game at the ford center will be.

denver lost their coach again,it is good news for thunder.Thunder had 3-0 when play against Jazz so I dont mind lose this game.But I will be crazy lose Denver again

This could be a good thing. Seeding isn't that important, to advance you're going to have to win some games, probably on the road.

I would much rather have a pissed off team with something to prove than an extra game at home.

During the time out before "the play" Deron Williams said "only one second left, go up and block it". I told my friend sitting next to me all someone needs to do is pump fake and go into the defender and game over. The refs wouldn't be able to ignore that. I'm actually surprised KD didn't try to draw more contact seeing that the defender (forgot who it was) left his feet practically when KD caught the ball.
This one hurts. I hate Utah. And refs.

In other news, KD broke 700 free throws made in this game. He's the first person to do it since 1989. He still has a remote chance of hitting 90% which would make his year bar none the best foul shooting year ever. If he goes to the line 50 times the rest of the way (10 a game) he has to make 48 of them to hit 90%.

HOW DO YOU NOT CALL THIS?????? The biggest robbery in all of sports. I cannot believe this was not called...Tony Brothers and the other refs should be banned from the nba. forever. and ever

@RAV-RAD

The Media would never allow Robo ref's. It would destroy the timing of games, calling every foul, travel and otherwise indiscretion,

And How many less hits do you think sports websites would have if there weren't any refereeing controversies to talk about

Durantula :

RH :@Durantula

Yes, tonight’s call was a missed call, but the Barry play just shows that the refs default to not calling fouls in the last minute. Don’t get me wrong, I thought tonight’s play was clearly a foul, but it’s a simple fact that these things happen in the final seconds.

Again, those 2 plays are not even comparable. I bump before a shot and full body contact while hitting the shooting arm. Your example is weak sauce.

You can argue and bang the table all you want. Both plays were fouls, neither was called. I would find more examples to support the original point of "sometimes teams get screwed on the last play by a no-call," but I'm out of time tonight.

The bottom line is this game probably affects seeding, but we're a good road team and shouldn't be as concerned as others. Hopefully it will light a fire under the team, and I think the rest of the country is about to witness KD's coming out party (since they certainly haven't seen it on ESPN or TNT this year).

@RAV-RAD

Hands down worse! Who would Rasheed and KG complain to?! :P

I think of all the first round series, even if it's not our best matchup, a series with Utah would be the most entertaining.

Basketball needs....

robo-refs. How much better would NBA games be if they were officiated by robots? No bias, no fear, no gambling, no personal judgement. It would be consistent and by the book. I wonder, would that be more or less enjoyable to watch?

@justin

OK, Sarcasm is a little hard to find in 140 or less characters

Is that the best picture they can find for ESPN's NBA page? A blurry KD and Harden with a AAGGHHH from Boozer in picture form?

http://espn.go.com/nba/

@Jdstorm

He's joking.

@Wesley

It comes from Art Garcia, an NBA.COM writer's twitter http://twitter.com/ArtGarcia_NBA

but i haven't been able to find anything to support this anywhere else

Thunder fans shouldn't hate Mark Cuban. He had an obvious business reason not to want a team in Oklahoma City.

Cuban's the best owner in the NBA and the Mavs have had 50 win seasons every year for ten years thanks to him. We can only dream that we'll be able to achieve something like that..

My favorite part of the night was when the camera was on Durant after the terrible no-call and you could tell he wanted to say that was "BS" or some other swear word combination he just bit his tongue and headed to the locker room. Never in a million years would LeBron James do that

if the refs never make that call, then why wouldnt teams just always hack the shooter at the end of the game? We should just hack anyone who is shooting a game winner. If the Refs arent going to call a foul that is...

@Durantula

@andrew

I am entitled to my opinion, and last I checked, I am also allowed to express it. You don't like my opinion? Fine. Good for you. You are also entitled to your opinion, but don't go getting all riled up because mine is different than yours.

RH :@Durantula

Yes, tonight’s call was a missed call, but the Barry play just shows that the refs default to not calling fouls in the last minute. Don’t get me wrong, I thought tonight’s play was clearly a foul, but it’s a simple fact that these things happen in the final seconds.

Again, those 2 plays are not even comparable. I bump before a shot and full body contact while hitting the shooting arm. Your example is weak sauce.

@Jdstorm
How reliable is this source?

@Jdstorm
Yeah, obviously it is for personal gain (if true)... Still funny that Cuban is protesting on our behalf. Did I mention that all Thunder fans should hate him?

@Durantula

Yes, tonight's call was a missed call, but the Barry play just shows that the refs default to not calling fouls in the last minute. Don't get me wrong, I thought tonight's play was clearly a foul, but it's a simple fact that these things happen in the final seconds.

@Durantula

I don't think Cuban cares about OKC at all. but after tonight's results. Utah moved into the 2 seed, San Antonio moved up to 6th and dallas was pushed down to the third seed.

II think Dallas would prefer to be the no 2 seed in the west and is doing this for purely personal gain. if twitter is to be believed

Durantula :@Jdstorm

Based on our game? That is crazy!!! Cuban votes against the Thunder getting a franchise and now he loves us. Ha. If I am certain of one thing it is that nothing will come of a filed protest. Zero chance.

I'm going to assume Jdstorm was using sarcasm there?

@Jdstorm
Based on our game? That is crazy!!! Cuban votes against the Thunder getting a franchise and now he loves us. Ha. If I am certain of one thing it is that nothing will come of a filed protest. Zero chance.

@Dylan
Seriously. If we are going to have games like this... we are going to need to some kind of emergency support group. 2 years ago I didn't even care about the NBA. Right now, I'm completely and utterly devastated.

Looks like this story has yet to play out, I just heard that the Mav's have filed a protest with the league over the non call, as this result has wide ranging playoff implications

RH :

Jake :
I just don’t understand why refs choke on their whistles in these situations. Its either get booed for 2 minutes by the home town after making the right call, or get ridiculed in front of millions on TV for 3 days after making the wrong call. Doesn’t make sense. Just take the boos and make the call

Swallowing the whistle in the final seconds happens all the time in the NBA, especially the playoffs. I’m not saying it’s right; it’s just the way it is.
Want proof? Brent Barry didn’t get the call in the last second against the Lakers in 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR4m0ZThDYY

Terrible example. Barry was fouled on the floor before the shot. KD had his shooting hand hit during the shot, thus ruining the game. Eveyrone that says "this is how it is in the NBA" is not making an argument, but making excuses. KD clearly was fouled ON THE SHOT and should have gone to the line. Bad officiating. Period.
Also, on a side note, I'm still and I can't sleep even though I have to be up at 6:30am. Crap.