Reggie Miller not surprised how refs handled final OKC-Spurs sequence
Reggie Miller says officials always swallow their whistles in the last two minutes of a game and let player decide the outcome.
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2 min read
If you're one of the three people who've yet to read or hear about the chaos that took place on the final sequence of the OKC-Spurs game Monday night, here's about as thorough an explanation as you're going to get. Everyone is still talking about all the missed calls on that one play. Five, to be exact, as ruled by the NBA Tuesday.
The highlight -- or lowlight -- mishap was Dion Waiters, the OKC inbounder, shoving Manu Ginobili to clear space. No call. Somehow. Game 2's lead official Ken Mauer said immediately after the game that Waiters should have been whistled for a foul and the Spurs should've been given the ball down one with time to set up for a final shot.
But that, again, wasn't the only missed call. What happened from there was total chaos, players grabbing each other, even fans grabbing players. Through it all, not a single whistle -- which came as no surprise to Hall of Famer and current TNT analyst Reggie Miller. Speaking on The Dan Patrick Show, Miller, who played in 1389 career games, said officials have always swallowed their whistles in the final moments of a game, letting players decide the outcome.
"This is why I say the two-minute report that's now coming out...this goes to what I've always said about our game in the NBA," Miller told Patrick. "Officials, especially in late-game situations, always swallow their whistle and let the players decide the game. As egregious as fouls may be or non calls, they always let the players decide the games. Last night was no difference...But again, I always say the officials swallowed their whistles and I'm not saying it's right or wrong. But it's always been like that for the 18 years that I played they let players decide the game."
There is nothing really new to what Miller is saying. But he is providing a player's perspective and essentially saying that players already know that officials won't call anything when the game is winding down, so they have to get used to non-calls and play through it. Which is exactly what Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said after Game 2, not blaming the officials but instead crediting the Thunder for outplaying them.
Still, though. This was crazy. Waiters shoved Ginobili from out of bounds. You can understand swallowing whistles on normal fouls, but this was not normal in any way. If you had a dollar for every person who has since said they've never seen anything like that, you'd be very rich. In this case, you have the believe the officials were simply as caught off guard as everyone else.
Either way, the series is tied 1-1 heading to Oklahoma City for Game 3 Friday.
