The Oklahoma City Thunder are for real — Golden State has been one of the best teams in the NBA to start the season and Oklahoma City came within a whisper of beating them despite their best player being out (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had knee soreness). Rookie Chet Holmgren scored 24 points on 7-of-9 shooting. That should not be lost because of what happened at the end.
But what happened at the end was wild.
Stephen Curry drove the lane and banked in a scooping layup to put the Warriors up two with 0.2 left on the clock.
STEPH CALLED GAME WITH 0.2 SECONDS LEFT 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Yv1xv2rUIF
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) November 4, 2023
But look at the play closely and you can see the Warriors’ Draymond Green comes crashing in for the offensive rebound and touches the rim before the ball goes through the cylinder. In addition, the Thunder’s Josh Giddey touches the net. Both of those could have been called goaltending and the play wiped out — however neither were.
Steph's game-winner initially didn't count after Draymond was called for goaltending, but the call was overturned after the replay review showed Giddey touched the net first 👀 pic.twitter.com/K5NwPGT3Cv
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) November 4, 2023
The basket counted and the Warriors got the 141-139 win. Here is the explanation for why no goaltending was called from Crew Chief Mitchell Ervin to a pool reporter:
“It was clear and conclusive evidence that Draymond does not touch the ball. Although Draymond does touch the rim, he does not touch the ball, nor does him touching the rim cause the ball to take an unnatural bounce therefore a basketball violation does not occur on the play.”
It feels like in the past it’s been called that if anyone touches the rim or net it’s been an automatic goaltend, this feels like a departure from how things were called in the past. However, the NBA Rule Book says it’s only goaltending if “the ball is sitting or rolling on the ring and using the basket ring as its lower base or hang on the rim while the ball is passing through.”
Unsurprisingly, Green agreed with the officials.
"Hitting the rim is not a goaltend" 😁
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) November 4, 2023
Draymond was confident he didn't commit a penalty but knew he was at the mercy of the refs pic.twitter.com/YYXqqffIjI
When Josh Giddey was asked about the play, he sounded like a coach.
Josh Giddey on the final bucket: “At the end of the day, I don’t think it should’ve came down to that for us.”
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) November 4, 2023
The Warriors are now 1-0 in pool play for the In-Season Tournament, behind 30 from Curry. The Warriors also had strong bench play on the night with 20 from Dario Saric and 19 from Jonathon Kuminga. Defensive specialist Lu Dort showed he is more than that scoring 29 to lead the Thunder.
The Thunder earned a measure of respect from the four-time champions with their play,
