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Apart from being one of the best playmakers of this generation, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul is also an astute student of the game.
He displayed his vast familiarity of the NBA rules on Friday, alerting the officials of an infraction committed by Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jordan Bell.
Seeing Bell enter the game with his jersey untucked – which is considered a delay of game per league rules — Paul immediately pointed it out to the referees. The Timberwolves, who were already called for a delay of game earlier, was assessed with a technical foul.
Chris Paul getting the officials to call a foul on a dead ball because Jordan Bell hadn't tucked in his jersey is max level CP3 pic.twitter.com/gZe3BrR7Yr
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) December 7, 2019
Paul’s heads-up play proved to be critical, as the Thunder managed to escape with a 139-127 win in overtime.
Such minor infractions often go undetected, but Paul understands that even the little things could spell the difference between winning and losing, especially in such a tight contest.
Asked whether he was aware that Minnesota already had been flagged for a delay of game, Paul blatantly answered.
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“Yup. It’s a game. We do play a game. I just notice it,” he told reporters.
“That happens more often than not. Sometimes refs tend to be like ‘whatever’, but that is the rule. You check in with your jersey untucked that’s a delay of game.”
Chris Paul breaking down the Jordan Bell untucked jersey he called out.
Did he know the T-Wolves already had one delay of game earlier?
“Yep.” pic.twitter.com/NbzNSMh2MK
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) December 7, 2019
Meanwhile, referee Scott Foster, who was among the officials on the floor when the call was made, refused to give Paul credit for seeing the violation.
Chris Paul bestie Scott Foster giving CP zero credit for calling out the Jordan Bell delay of game.
Foster to pool reporter: “Mark and I saw him coming into the court without his shirt tucked in.” pic.twitter.com/7iPkhh3uqt
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) December 7, 2019
It is worth noting that Foster and Paul do have some history together. Paul specifically called out Foster last year for supposedly singling out NBA players with unfavorable calls.
