Thunder vs. Mavericks: Referee explains controversial foul call on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in final seconds

In a thrilling game of the season on Saturday, the Dallas Mavericks advanced to the Western Conference playoffs. The Mavericks stunned the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 of their second-round series, coming back from a 17-point deficit. However, the victory wasn’t without some controversy.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s lob to Chet Holmgren with around 20 seconds left gave the Thunder the lead back, 116-115. With 2.1 seconds left, P.J. Washington was getting ready to make a 3-point shot with the game on the line. Although Gilgeous-Alexander appeared to have stopped the shot at first, he was called for a foul. That foul stood up on replay, in the end.

In order to keep the Thunder from setting up their own shot in the closing seconds, Washington purposefully missed the third free throw after making the first two to give Dallas the advantage. In the end, Dallas prevailed, 117-116.

Fans continued to question how Gilgeous-Alexander, who appeared to make contact with the ball before hitting Washington, could have been called for a foul even after the game. The call was explained in the post-game pool report by Tony Brothers, the crew chief.

“During the review we saw that Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) initially starts on the ball, but then he slides off of it and clearly makes illegal contact with (P.J.) Washington’s arm while he still has control of the ball and is in the act of shooting,” Brothers stated. “The contact that followed to the arm is prohibited because the ball was not moved by the collision. In this instance, the contact that followed would have been considered minor if Shai’s knock had caused the ball to become dislodged.

In essence, the decision rested on the fact that, notwithstanding Gilgeous-Alexander’s contact with the ball, Washington’s shot was not blocked by him. The release was delayed, thereby affecting the trajectory of the projectile, until after Gilgeous-Alexander had contacted Washington. Thus, Dallas advances to play either the Denver Nuggets or the Minnesota Timberwolves, while Oklahoma City returns home after one of the closest finishes of the season.