For one night, the Los Angeles Clippers' biggest enemy is not their owner, Donald Sterling.
An amazing final-minute comeback allowed the Oklahoma City Thunder to complete a rally from a 13-point deficit with 3 ½ minutes left and a seven-point deficit with 49.3 seconds left to beat the Clippers 105-104 on Tuesday night.
The Thunder turned the tables on the Clippers, who erased a 16-point deficit to defeat OKC in Game 4. But they had a lot of help from the officials.
Kevin Durant, who struggled all night with a 6-for-24 shooting performance, hit a 3-pointer with 43.7 seconds left over Los Angeles' Glen Davis to cut the Clippers lead to 104-100.
The Thunder then decided not to foul, and the Clippers' Jamal Crawford missed a layup. Kevin Durant quickly scored a layup to cut the Clippers' lead to 104-102.
Los Angeles got the ball in to Chris Paul, who assumed Russell Westbrook was going to foul him and inexplicably jumped up. Westbrook, instead, stripped the ball from Paul and Reggie Jackson got the ball with a three-on-one with Durant and Westbrook against the Clippers' Matt Barnes.
But Jackson inexplicably tried to take the ball to Barnes. Barnes slapped Jackson's wrist, but no foul was called and the ball went out of bounds, clearly off Jackson.
But the officials somehow gave the ball back to the Thunder. That had Clippers coach Doc Rivers screaming at the officials, "That's our ball!"
But two more inexplicable plays ensued. Westbrook tried an off-balance 3-pointer with nearly eight seconds left on the clock. But Paul hit him on the arm, giving Westbrook three free throws with 6.4 seconds left - after the clock was stopped.
Westbrook hit all three free throws to give the Thunder the lead. On Los Angeles' final possession, Paul again lost the ball, and the Clippers lost the game.
After the game, Rivers was emphatic about the play in which the officials didn't call a foul on Barnes and the ball went off Jackson. Because officials cannot review a foul, their only choice should have been to call the ball out on Jackson.
"Let's take away replay," Rivers said in a postgame interview. "That's our ball; we win the game, and we got robbed. That was a foul (on Barnes). But that was our ball. At the end of the day, we have a replay system that you're supposed to look at. Now don't tell me they didn't have the right angle. That's a bunch of crap. That could be a series defining call, and that's not right."
When asked about his opinion on the Barnes-Jackson play, Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks commented, "I couldn't tell who the ball was hit off. If it's not conclusive they have to go with what they called."
Paul refused to put the blame on the refs, however.
"Toughest thing I've been through, basketball-wise," he said. "It's me. Everything that happened there at the end is on me. The turnover with 17 seconds left -- assuming that they were going to foul was the dumbest play, probably that I ever made.
"And then to even put it in the officials hands to call a foul on the (Westbrook 3) is just bad basketball. The league can issue a statement tomorrow saying the ball was off them. Who gives a ... ? I mean, we lost."
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