At the end of last night’s game, a weird thing happened. With time running out, Rick Carlisle came up, patting Kevin Durant on the back to say good game and for some reason, Durant handed the ball the Carlisle.
(I love Carlisle’s face after he flips the ball back. He’s like, “I dunno he just handed it to me.”)
After a moment of everyone being extremely confused, referee Steve Javie called it a turnover on Durant and gave the ball to Dallas. A lot of people thought this should’ve been a technical foul on Carlisle. And technically it should’ve been before KD even handed him the ball.
The rules state pretty clearly that a player and a coach can’t make contact while the player is on the floor with the ball in play. For example, Scott Skiles was hit with a T against the Heat for bumping Carlos Arroyo inadvertently and Jason Kidd has his famous “run into Mike Woodson” play against the Hawks a couple years ago.
Also, the rules state coaches are to be assessed a technical foul when they step on the court without permission from an official. Watching the video, I think it’s pretty clear Carlisle is on the court. And I don’t think he had permission.
But as we all know, coaches walk onto the floor all the time. It’s not something strictly enforced. And in the case of Durant and Carlisle, obviously it’s the end of the game and there’s no reason to call anything. But they had to call something. They couldn’t just stand there and let Carlisle hold the ball for seven seconds.
I asked NBA Communications VP Tim Frank about it and he said the officials got the call correct. He said that because Carlisle was out of bounds, Durant handing him the ball was no different than just setting it on the scorer’s table. Makes sense.
But the issue really is that Carlisle was on the court, if just barely. He kind of surprised Durant by coming up behind him. And it’s not like Durant forced the ball into Carlisle’s hands or anything. Carlisle actually grabbed it from him.
Does this matter? Not at all. The only thing it affected was OKC’s defensive stats (which could use some help), Durant’s turnovers per game and gamblers that bet the under (the line was at 192.5 and after DeShawn Stevenson’s 3, the final was at 194.)
Durant tweeted that it was just a joke. He’s right, absolutely not a big deal in any way, but still, an interesting look at NBA rules. And as Zach Lowe of SI pointed out, another instance that coaches need to back off from the court.
Yep, I agree. Carlisle steps on the court and pats KD. KD figures play has stopped, holds out the ball and Carlisle takes it. No way a turnover, no way did they get the call "right." Does it make any difference, no, but it is definately wierd.
I'm imagining Kevin puttin the ball out there saying 'here' then mumbled give it to butler to spike...Carlisle doesn't fully hear, grabs the ball then realizes what kd said
I had a completely different take on the incident. I thought it was subtle "payback" for the Mavs celebrating on our court after their win. I base this on KD simply handing the ball to the coach and then later stating during his interview when asked what happened he said "sense of humor, I guess." That tells me he did it intentionaly yet without being boorish about it. A sort of , "here you go coach this is what you've been wanting all night" ...
Carlisle reached out and grabbed the ball from Durant's hands during play! That should have been a technical on Carlisle!
@justin
The clip with Durant's quick show and quick retreat was especially perceptive. He's done that a lot this year and it always just LOOKS wrong.
@Sammy
The way we help off the perimeter on post players always bothered me. Why help off a player the post guy has a clear pass to? They're always going to pass it back out and the win will always have an open shot.
I think Pruiti did a good job of showing the problems the team has had that go beyond that, though. We do a lot of over helping but clearly that's not the only problem with the defense.
@justin
The conclusion struck me as odd. I feel like players staying home hasn't been a problem as much as overhelp on penetration leading to tons of open J's. Maybe the problem is the wrong players are rotating (i.e. perimeter players off of shooters instead of post players)?
Sammy :
the fantastic Sebastian Pruiti takes an in depth look at the Thunder D. It’s subscriber only, but a subscription is worth it at BP.
Great article with a ton of clips that show exactly what's happening with the team defense, and illustrated the individual struggle Jeff Green is having defensively against most players.
Anyone with a BP subscription should check it out, really nails what's going on defensively with the Thunder and my conclusion is that it's more a coaching issue than anything. The team misses Ron Adams and Brooks hasn't kept the team disciplined with their team defense.
Why do couches need to stand up during play at all? I mean like the players can hear what they are saying, or like they even care.... Classic timeout coach line, "alright guys we need to play better defense, let's just get more points and we'll win this one"
.... so what you are saying is that Carlisle touched Kevin Durant from behind and came on the floor? Interesting.
the fantastic Sebastian Pruiti takes an in depth look at the Thunder D. It's subscriber only, but a subscription is worth it at BP.
Whatever the call, I do know one thing - I've never seen anything this before, and I will probably never see it again.
File that under the "I thought I'd seen/heard everything" category.
At the 0:02 mark of the video, Carlisle touches Durant (before any of the funny business with the ball occured). Should have been a T -- I understand why it wasn't called, of course, but your league official guy was wrong.
Kevin simply stuck the ball out toward Carlisle who reached for it and took it from him while standing on the sideline. How that can be a turnover on KD is beyond me. This is obviously much adoo about nothing but clearly the correct call was not made.
@Nick
You're right. I guess it's contingent on the player being the one that makes it hit the coach. And in this case, Javie must've seen it as Durant making the ball touch Carlisle, instead of Carlisle grabbing it (which is what really happened).
Sweet!
Brooks averaged 2.5 steals per 48 minutes for his career. He should be getting us the ball back at least once or twice per game from the sidelines now.
That explanation from Tim Frank is stupid.
So if a coach steals the ball from a player shooting a corner 3, it is out of bounds on that player as long as the coach never came on the floor (or in this case came on the floor and touched the player)? Yeah...that makes a lot of sense.