The Oklahoma City Thunder knotted the series up 1-1 in a tightly contested series so far. The story of the game, however, was not the resiliency of the defending champs. The main story, for me, was once again their need to bend the rules with the officials to gain an advantage. It feels like the story after every Oklahoma City game has something to do with the refereeing, and certainly was the case after Game Two.
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About two weeks ago, the Thunder beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game Two. The game had many controversial calls that favored Oklahoma City, and fans were not happy with it. Two weeks later, history has repeated itself.
The Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs in Game Two, and the game had some controversial calls that favored the defending champs. People the next day were unhappy with it. That leads to the next question: Why keep bringing this up?
It feels necessary to call out Oklahoma City and how they are being officiated because they are the gold standard in the league. They are the hunted team today, and franchises across the league are brainstorming ways to slow down this juggernaut. With how deep the Thunder are, they pose a unique challenge to other teams.
Oklahoma City has 11 players who shoot north of 35% from three that play at least 15 minutes per game. Defenses today are not built to guard that and are looking for ways to adjust. The main point is that they are extremely difficult to guard, and that is a credit to their General Manager, Sam Presti, for building this team.
The outrage stems from how the officials treat the Thunder. They seem to get away with flopping more than any other team. In Game Two, there was a compilation of Shai Gilgeous Alexander falling after many of his shots unsolicited, and he benefited from a few bad calls.
On the other end, Isaiah Hartenstein was able to do whatever he wanted to Victor Wembanyama. On one play, he pulled Stephon Castle’s hair during a scuffle for a rebound, which wasn’t called. A few seconds later the Thunder hit a big three that pushed the lead to 99-92 with 10 minutes to go. That’s not a hard playoff foul; that’s just flat out not allowed.
Throughout the game, Hartenstein was hooking and grabbing Wembanyama on multiple defensive possessions. Jason Timpf, on his Hoops Tonight podcast, was speaking about how a differently officiated game could have had him fouled out by the end of the first quarter.
It’s hard to blame Hartenstein for playing that way either. He needs to level the playing field when guarding somebody like Wemby. If he’s allowed to grab and hold to gain an advantage, then he’s going to grab and hold. The main issue is, why are the refs allowing that?
Why is this team in particular difficult to officiate?
It feels redundant to bring up the officials after Thunder games, but it is necessary. The best team in the league needs to be held to a high standard on how they look televised. At the end of the day, the NBA is an entertainment business and is always looking to grow the game.
With how Oklahoma City plays and how they’re officiated, particularly their best player, it makes it difficult to sell this sport to newcomers. People love tough physical basketball, especially in the postseason. If teams were allowed to be more physical with Gilgeous-Alexander, less people would have an issue with what Hartenstein was doing to Wemby.
More than anything, it’s the dichotomy of how OKC’s offense is being officiated vs how their defense is being officiated that sparks most of the hate.
Can this be fixed?
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