OAKLAND – With 1 minute and 35 seconds left in the third quarter and the Oklahoma City Thunder ahead of the Warriors by 22 points, 95-73, Russell Westbrook tried to drive to the basket but slipped and tripped over himself, eventually landing stomach-first onto the baseline.
There was no contact on the play. But referee Lauren Holtkamp called a foul on Kevin Durant.
The play was shown over and over again on the jumbotron, sending the fans at Oracle Arena into a bit of a frenzy. The crowd was on their feet, raucously booing and chanting “refs, you suck.” It may have been the loudest the crowd has been all season.
Refs have been awful tonight. Russell Westbrook slips without getting touched. Refs call foul on Golden State Warriors pic.twitter.com/fMHuRx1z1B
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) February 7, 2018
Warriors’ owner Joe Lacob was so upset that he ripped off his jacket and threw it onto the floor.
After the game, Westbrook acknowledged that he slipped.
“I just tripped,” Westbrook said. “It was a missed call. It happens throughout the league. There are a lot of missed calls.”
Russell Westbrook on the foul call on Durant when he slipped
“I slipped”
“It just tripped, it was a missed call – it happens throughout the league. There are a lot of missed calls” pic.twitter.com/k607fMG7E5
— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) February 7, 2018
Durant said the game was already so long gone, that the play was pretty much irrelevant.
“Well, we were down 20 anyway,” Durant said. “That wasn’t the deciding factor in the game. That had nothing to do with the outcome. She just probably missed it, just like we missed a bunch of defensive assignments, and a bunch of layups, and free throws. It happens. That wasn’t the reason. That was just a bad play, probably a bad misjudgment on her end.”
The Twitterverse wasn’t so kind.
Lauren Holtkamp had the worst call in NBA history. Don’t make this about a male/female thing either, because that’s crap. #warriors #okc
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) February 7, 2018
Lauren Holtkamp just made the worst foul call I've ever seen. No one within four feet of tumbling Russell Westbrook.
— Phil Barber (@Skinny_Post) February 7, 2018
Westbrook just tripped and no one was close to touching him and the ref called a foul. I think that was the worst call I’ve seen in any sport.
— Kamen Entchev (@KamenEntchev) February 7, 2018
That was one of the many emotional moments that the Warriors had around the officiating in their 125-105 loss Wednesday.
Draymond Green was ejected from the game with 8 minutes and 13 seconds left after throwing the ball in the direction of referee Marat Kogut when he was called for an offensive foul. It was his 13th technical of the season. NBA players receive an automatic suspension when they accrue 16 technical fouls.
Westbrook stood and clapped as Green walked off the court.
Green left without speaking to reporters. In the hallway, he said, “I want to save my money.”
And then there’s Steve Kerr, who got a technical foul with 9 minutes and 38 seconds left in the second quarter after David West was assessed a foul. Kerr was so upset that he didn’t even allow Warriors’ assistant Mike Brown to calm him down.
Steve Kerr is NOT HAPPY with Mike Brown for trying to restrain the head coach after picking up a tech… pic.twitter.com/kvlKr9KLnW
— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) February 7, 2018
After the game, however, Kerr said the Warriors were to blame for the loss.
“The game had nothing to do with the officials,” Kerr said. “They missed calls, but we were way worse than the officials were.”
West and Iguodala also picked up technicals over the game. The Warriors finished with five technical fouls, while the Thunder had none.
Steph Curry called Tuesday a “rough night” because of the officiating but said the Warriors need to find a way to keep their cool even if calls aren’t going their way.
“If we honestly are going to say they’re the reason we lost the game tonight, I think that’s off,” Curry said. “We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and see what we can do to control the game because we know that’s stuff that we can’t control. As much as we want to complain in the moment or try to argue with the refs about what they should have seen and calls not going our way, as we go down the stretch of the season and in playoffs, if that’s something that’s going to get under our skin consistently and impact our performance, we’re going to be in trouble.”
