Kevin Durant was fouled. Final shot in overtime last night, Thunder down one, C.J Miles fouled Durant. No question.
It may have just been the balancing of the karmic scales.
Let’s take you back to last year, barely. New Year’s Eve, Jazz and Thunder locked in another close one. We’ll let Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune walk you through the rest.
Back on New Year’s Eve, the Jazz lost to the Thunder thanks to a loose-ball foul called on Paul Millsap by rookie referee Kane Fitzgerald, which sent Nick Collison to the line for the winning free throws in the final seconds.
You don’t often see a game decided by one call but that was one. After what happened that night, the Jazz were owed a victory over the Thunder.
Siler makes one other point -- Mr. No Call Tony Brothers (the closest ref to the foul on Durant) and Bennett Salvatore from this controversial game made up two-thirds of the crew that angered Phil Jackson enough Sunday he teed off on them afterward and earned himself a $35,000 fine.
I’d say referees can get in a slump, too, but with Salvatore is it really a slump?