Doc Rivers on end of Clippers-Thunder game: ‘We got robbed’
The Clippers’ coach went in on the officials after a controversial out of bounds call set up the possession that gave the Thunder the lead in the final seconds.
Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Clippers’ collapse in Game 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder had Doc Rivers heated in his postgame press conference. Specifically, Rivers was incensed at this play:
That shows Reggie Jackson driving after Chris Paul committed a costly turnover with the Clippers up two with 14 seconds left. Matt Barnes swiped at the ball and it appeared Jackson touched it out of bounds. Nevertheless, the Thunder retained possession, perhaps because the referees realized they missed a foul call.
Rivers didn’t want to hear that, though.
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“We got robbed because of that call. Everybody in the arena saw it, and that’s why they were shocked when it said OKC [ball],” Rivers said. “That was our ball, whether it was a foul or not. It was, but they didn’t call it.”
Rule 8, Section IIb states the following:
If a player has his hand in contact with the ball and an opponent hits the hand causing the ball to go out-of-bounds, the team whoseplayer had his hand on the ball will retain possession.
That would seem to indicate the ball should go to the Thunder, but it’s unclear if Barnes hit Jackson’s hand in that manner. The NBA released a statement saying the view from two different angles on the replay was “inconclusive” and therefore they stuck with the original call of Thunder ball.
Either way, Rivers was incredulous. He referenced a similar situation from Game 1 of the Clippers' series against the Golden State Warriors, when a review gave the ball to the Warriors even though Draymond Green appeared to foul Chris Paul.
“At the end of the day, we have a replay system that we’re supposed to look at. I don’t want to hear that they didn’t have that replay,” Rivers said. “That’s a bunch of crap.”
“That could be a series-defining call, and that’s not right.”
