The Golden State Warriors suffered a tough defeat last night at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs opted to play without Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili (rest) while Tony Parker also missed the game because of a right shin injury.
Given that Golden State had all of their big guns when compared to the Spurs, there’s a sentiment that they should have won the game, especially considering the fact it was played at Oracle Arena. Alas, the Dubs were downed in what appeared to be a controversial ending.
During the telecast, replays showed that Tiago Splitter’s game-winning tip might have warranted a basket interference call. The ball appeared to be in the cylinder and consequently, Reggie Miller kept wondering aloud why the referees refused to review the play to ensure the proper call had been made. But that’s just it, no actual call was made and therein was the issue.
Ben Golliver of the Point Forward explains:
While the NBA’s replay rules do allow for the review of goaltending and basket interference plays during the final two minutes of the fourth quarter and overtime, the video review process is only triggered if the game officials initially whistle the violation. In this case, the game officials did not whistle an offensive goaltending violation on the play so they did not have the opportunity to proceed to the video review process.
The loss dropped the Warriors to a 14-13 record. Stephen Curry (30 points and 15 assists) and David Lee (32 points and 13 rebounds) both had stellar games but an argument could be made that both could have been better. Curry made some questionable decisions down the stretch of the contest and also, Lee probably should have been featured a little more considering how well he was rolling.
The Dubs are in some sort of funk and will have to pull together if they are ever going to regroup. Mark Jackson shared as much with the San Jose Mercury News:
“They are not playing well right now,” coach Mark Jackson said. “I’m not going to sit here and make excuses for them. I believe in my guys, they have had some great moments for us and they will have great moments for us, but right now they are not playing their best basketball.”
The Warriors’ will host the Los Angeles Lakers in their next game this coming Saturday.
Questions or comments? Feel free to leave them in the comments section or you can contact me by email at [email protected].