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What a brutal way for a season to end. The Oklahoma City Thunder were oh-so-close to forcing a Game 7 back home against the Dallas Mavericks. Towards the end of a back-and-forth affair, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander found Chet Holmgren on an alley-oop to put the team up one with around 20 seconds left in the game clock.
All they needed is a stop. However, in the waning moments of the game, SGA fouled a streaking PJ Washington on a three-point attempt. Washington made two out of three, then intentionally missed the last one en route to a victory. However, some Thunder fans seem to question why there was a foul call, since the contact seemed minimal.
Well, the NBA's pool report after the game explained why the Thunder were charged with a shooting foul in that instance. The gist of it is that since the ball was still not dislodged when Gilgeous-Alexander tried to swipe the ball, the contact to Washington's arm was considered illegal.
“During the review we saw that Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) initially starts on the ball, but then he slides off of it and clearly makes illegal contact with (P.J.) Washington’s arm while he still has control of the ball and is in the act of shooting. Since the ball was not dislodged by the contact, the ensuing contact to the arm is illegal. Had the ball been dislodged when Shai hit it, the contact afterwards would have been deemed marginal, which did not happen here.”
This is exactly what happened in the game. Since the ball was never out of Washington's control, he was still in a shooting motion when the swipe happened. Therefore, SGA's swipe affected Washington's shot attempt. Had the ball been dislodged, the ensuing contact would have been ignored since the ball was loose and it wasn't enough to prevent Washington from recovering. It's just an extremely unlucky break for the Thunder.
Thunder's magical season
It's easy to get lost in the reactionary frenzy on social media and call the Thunder disappointments for failing as the first seed. However, we must remember that they weren't supposed to be here in the first place. Many expected OKC to take a step forward after missing the playoffs last year. No one expected them to be “top seed in the West” good this early into their rebuild.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander truly cemented himself as the Thunder's top dog. After being quite underrated for so long, SGA inserted himself into the MVP conversation as a credible winner, finishing second in the race. Holmgren, in his first full season, proved to be a valuable piece with his defense and versalitity. Jaylin Williams also emerged as an elite piece alongside the two.
The 2024 playoffs exposed the Thunder's weaknesses, both from a roster construction standpoint and from an experience standpoint. It was clear that while they stayed composed for the most part, it was those brief moments that separated them from a battle-tested team like the Mavericks.
That doesn't mean that the Thunder should let their heads hang after this loss. While this is soul-crushing, every young contender goes through a tough loss like this. What matters is how this team (the players, coaches, and the front office) builds upon this loss. Expect the Thunder to bounce back big time next season.
