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Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul wasn't dubbed the Point God for nothing. Over the past two games, Paul has posted an insane assist to turnover ratio of 27-to-1. However, he still felt hard done by the call that gave him his first turnover in 95 minutes worth of game time.
With over a minute left in the fourth quarter of the Suns' 116-107 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Footprint Center, Paul was merely dribbling out the clock with Karl-Anthony Towns guarding him on the perimeter. CP3 proceeded to take on KAT in isolation, crossing him over at the top of the key and then pulling off a hesitation move to blow by the overmatched 7-footer. But the referees called a palming violation on Paul, taking away his clean turnover record.
After the game, Paul voiced out his displeasure about the league's newly placed emphasis on cracking down on palming.
“It was a terrible call. I'm saying, the ref said, if he could dribble like that, he'd be in the league,” Paul told TNT's Stephanie Ready, who only stopped short of actually cutting Paul off as she wanted him not to get into any further trouble.
"TERRIBLE CALL."
Chris Paul, on his 'carry' violation late in the Suns win over the Timberwolves.pic.twitter.com/wn1Cfw0j3z
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 2, 2022
It wasn't just Chris Paul who was affected by this palming witch hunt. The Golden State Warriors were also blindsided, specifically Jordan Poole, who was called for multiple palming violations during their 109-116 loss to the Heat. Kerr aired out his frustration with the league's sudden crackdown, and Poole added that while the Heat were also called for such infractions, they weren't punished to the degree he was during a night he'd much rather forget.
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Moreover, Stephen Curry also had his issues with officiating, although this time, it wasn't related to dribbling violations. At a crucial juncture in the game, with the Heat leading by three with over a minute to go, Curry's hand was hit by Jimmy Butler on a 3-point attempt and the referees promptly called a foul on the Heat star. However, the Heat challenged the call and had it overturned, and Miami ended up winning the close contest.
“It was an awful call. It's tough. I don't know what they saw besides the high-five contact they talked about, but you got to be allowed to finish your motion. Especially when you slow it down in the slow-mo, it's pretty clear there was a lot of contact. But what do I know about calls,” Curry said.
Steph Curry on Jimmy Butler’s foul on him being overturned:
“Awful call.” pic.twitter.com/5x7CyAYNPC
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) November 2, 2022
Alas, Chris Paul and Stephen Curry are professionals, and they haven't gotten this far without learning to adjust to how the game is called on a nightly basis.
