Bizarre Game 2 Finish Helps Oklahoma City Thunder Exorcise Personal Demons

Thanks to a bizarre ending and some outstanding fourth-quarter play, the Oklahoma City Thunder managed to steal home-court advantage away from the San Antonio Spurs with a 98-97 Game 2 victory. Though it’s been nearly impossible to win within the hostile confines of the AT&T Center, they did exactly that while overcoming a monstrous 41-point performance from LaMarcus Aldridge. 

But before focusing on the Thunder’s ability to beat back their late-game demons with inspired ball-movement in clutch situations, we have to talk about that ending. You know, the one where Dion Waiters blatantly shoved Manu Ginobili while trying to inbound the ball, and the refs swallowed their whistles:

This… is not legal. pic.twitter.com/J7lW3ZfKjT

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) May 3, 2016

Aldridge’s look of utter shock just about says it all.

As does head coach Gregg Popovich’s fine-avoiding understatement of the night, as relayed by Royce Young of ESPN.com:

Pop on the final sequence: “Something certainly happened on the sideline, I thought.”

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) May 3, 2016

Given the stakes and situation, that’s one of the more interesting no-calls you’ll ever see, though there’s obviously no guarantee San Antonio would have scored, even if it had gained possession. To be fair, the Spurs did still force a turnover, and they failed to capitalize on the final sequence—which, to be even more fair, also featured some interesting no-calls under the basket, a jump on the inbounds pass, Ginobili stepping on the baseline, a fan grabbing Steven Adams’ arm and plenty more. 

One of the wildest finishes in NBA playoff history. Wow.https://t.co/EtWFpmLQZ6

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 3, 2016

As Ginobili himself told reporters after the game, per BBallInsiders’ Ben Dowsett: “It’s not that play that decided anything. We got the steal, we got a shot, we got an offensive rebound.”

The final score will always read 98-97, and that means the Thunder evened up the second-round series at one game apiece. No matter how controversial the end-game sequence may have been, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the rest of the OKC troops showcased resiliency heretofore unseen during the 2015-16 campaign. 

After all, everything was working against them heading into Monday night. 

The Spurs had gone 40-1 at home during the regular season, outscoring their opponents by 13.9 points per game. And that trend was only continuing during the playoffs, as they’d taken down the shorthanded Memphis Grizzlies by a combined 58 points in two first-round games played before their hometown fans.

Beyond …

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