Late in the Oklahoma City Thunder‘s Game 1 win over the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, point guard Russell Westbrook committed an obvious travel at halfcourt with his team up three points in the final moments.
But the referees didn't call the violation, instead awarding him with a timeout after he had already taken three steps with the ball in hand. With only 17 seconds left on the clock, the correct call would've given the Warriors the ball back with a chance to tie the game. Instead, the Thunder went on to win 108-102.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was incredulous after the no-call, and it's hard to blame him:
https://vine.co/v/i0rxhi6nIBn
In an interview with NBA TV after the game, the league's senior vice president of replay and referee operations Joe Borgia admitted the referees got the call wrong, saying they did not put themselves in good position to see the travel:
You've got a tough play here, you've got a pretty quick transition play. The officials are thinking, possibly, you know, that Thompson might want to take a foul, so they're focusing a lot on Thompson and then all of a sudden, Westbrook just pulls up … No one could get in a good position to see him drag that pivot foot. It's an unfortunate miss, but so much going on in the play and the speed of it. Officiating is about getting angles and sometimes you just can't get them, and they did not get a great angle on that play.
Whether the officials are at a bad angle or not, missing a call so blatant in such a critical situation is not a good look for association.
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